


In an Era

by Script_the_Skeleton



Series: Hyrules Across the Ages [5]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Bonding, Character Death, Dad Linebeck, Linebeck is Link’s dad and no this isn’t up for discussion, Linked Universe, Multi, Sad legend, headcannons, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2020-01-07 06:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 30
Words: 72,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18405008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Script_the_Skeleton/pseuds/Script_the_Skeleton
Summary: Many stories to tell, not enough books to write them. These are a few tales told about the heroes named Link.One-shots for LU that don’t connect to each other and explore different ideas and plots.Linked Universe by the amazing @LinkedUniverse on tumblr by Jojo.





	1. Dreams are Waking

“How much longer?” Sky asked as they trudged through a wood. 

“Considering we’ve only been turned back three times!” Wind clapped happily, walking along the tracks, “we are making good progress! Once we get out of the forest, we’ll reach the train, and then you can meet all of my friends!”

Wind was really excited, this was the first time they made it to his Hyrule after the initial meeting. He was going on and on about how much they would love his growing kingdom and he couldn’t wait to show them around. 

Wild looked at Wind, “what are trains?”

The young boy’s eyes sparkled with excitement. 

“They’re these mechanical carriages on wheels that run by setting these engines on fire! They turn the wheels and follow these tracks. They go super fast and they are so cool!”

Wild thought out loud, “like a Divine Beast?”

“They are no way that big. More like if a boat was on land, and it had an engine instead of a sail.”

Wind continued talking about trains, how he was the best engineer in the country (“There’s like five people in this country!” Legend mumbled), when a man stumbled into their path. 

Somehow, the group unknowingly made it out of the forest and this man came to greet them. He wore a long blue coat, a blue shirt, and black hair. He also smelled of the sea, if you asked Wind, but smelled like rum to Warriors. 

“Link!” He shouted at the child, “where have you been! I thought that that princess of yours was going to wring my neck if I didn’t find you, boy!”

“LINEBECK!” Wind jumped onto the man and hugged him while hanging off his neck. “I missed you…”

The man, Linebeck, put on a smile and hugged the boy back. “Yeah, me too.”

Linebeck made Wind get off him and set him on the ground before pointing at him. 

“Now!” He commanded like a captain, “is that anyway to speak to your captain!”

Immediately, Wind saluted, “sir, no, sir!”

“You disappear again and you’ll swab my deck for a month!”

“Yes, sir, Captain Linebeck!”

Wind broke the salute when Linebeck ruffled his hair. 

“Now,” he looked at the rest of the heroes, “who are these men?”

“Oh,” Wind smiled, “these are my friends I met along the way. This is Sky, Four, Time, Twilight, Wild, Hyrule, Warriors, and Legend!”

“Weird names, but alright,” Linebeck muttered, “pleasure to meet you, but not as much as it is to meet me. I’m Captain Linebeck, the captain of the best ship in the Great Sea and the domain of the Ocean King!”

Everyone mumbled out a hello.

“I don’t like him,” Warriors grumbled to Four. 

“Figures,” Four shrugged. 

“What does that mean!?”

“So, where have you been?” Linebeck looked at Wind, “like I said, Tetra has almost every boat out there looking for you. Don’t know why we found you on land!”

Wind looked down shyly, “well, there was some magic involved. Some time travel. I met these guys, and we’re trying to stop a dark evil.”

“So… a normal day?”

“Pretty much.”

Linebeck ruffled Wind’s hair again, “you always attracted trouble. But, is your friend okay? Looks like me when I first stepped on the ghost ship.”

The friend he was talking about happened to be Legend, who’s face looked like he had seen a ghost ship. He was deathly pale with wide eyes that held fear. His mouth was agape more that a monster trying eat a hero. 

“Legend?” Wind asked, “are you okay?”

Sky touched Legend’s hand gently, “Legend?”

Suddenly, the color returned to his face and the hero bolted off back into the woods. He didn’t stop as everyone called out to him. 

“We can’t go by one week without someone having a break down!” Warriors complained. 

“What do you expect?” Four asked, “after all we’ve been through?”

“But does everyone need to run into the woods like some Tingle impersonator?” 

Hyrule interrupted Warriors tangent, “should we go after him?”

“I will!” Wind volunteered and turned to Linebeck, “I’ll get Legend and you can take everyone to the castle!”

“Why does it have to be me?”

“Because you couldn’t last five minutes in these woods!”

Linebeck looked at the looming trees and growing fog before shrugging. 

“Fine,” he turned around and started marching, waving his hands like crazy, “right this way, landlubbers!”

As Wind started to go in Legend’s direction, Time grabbed his hand. 

“Be careful,” Time said in a quiet voice. 

“I will,” Wind smiled, “besides, out of all the Hyrule’s, I think mine has the least amount of monsters.”

Time narrowed his one eye, “just keep in mind that Legend as gone through the most adventures out of all of us. He hasn’t shown this side of him, be careful.”

Time let go and started walking after the group. 

Wind paused to think of the meaning. Did Time think Legend might hurt him by accident with whatever he was feeling right now. Wind also just assumed that Time knew everyone’s secrets, so maybe he knew something about Legend. 

Quickly, Wind marched back into the woods and he followed the sound of someone singing. It was a soft melody, one that reminded him of Malon when she sang to her horses. 

Soon, he found Legend, he was in a clearing with a river running through it. He was also singing, but stopped suddenly when he heard Wind coming. 

Legend looked at Wind before looking at the water, “what do you want?”

“Are you okay?” He asked, “you ran off suddenly, and that’s not like you.”

Legend sighed, “it’s also not like dreams to become real!” 

His tone was angry, which shocked Wind. 

“What do you mean?”

Legend scoffed and said in a mock tone, “Captain Linebeck, the captain of the best ship in the Great Sea and the domain of the Ocean King.”

He looked at Wind with dead eyes, “I know a dream when I see one. Your ‘Linebeck’ isn’t real. So, how did you do it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Wind tried to lie, he didn’t like spreading the fact of Linebeck’s origins. He was real now, and that’s what mattered. “Linebeck isn’t a dream.”

“Of course he isn’t,” the hero tossed a rock into the water, “what did you do to make it happen. Pray to the goddesses? Make a deal? Dragged his nonexistent soul into the living world?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about! I met Linebeck at a port on my way to save the Ocean King, he helped me! He’s real!”

Legend suddenly stood up and marched to Wind. He was furious, his eyes showing a madness that Wind didn’t know existed. 

“This ‘Ocean King’,” he muttered, “you love telling us stories of your fight with Ganon, but rarely mention your second adventure.”

“Nothing happened,” Wind started to back up, but Legend kept walking, “I just went through a dungeon and broke a curse.”

“Why was he called the Ocean King?”

“His name was Oshus and he controlled a part of the Sea as a…”

“A whale.”

Wind looked up in shock, “how did you-“

Legend grabbed Wind by his tunic’s collar and slammed him against a tree with ease. Wind had the actual wind knocked out of him and he tried to struggle, though, Legend’s grip was dangerously strong. 

“I’ve had my fair share with whales and their dreams! Now tell me, how did you bring Linebeck back!?”

It was in that moment that Wind realized his friend was crying. 

“Please,” he cried, “just tell me.”

“After I saved Oshus,” Wind explained, “he granted me, Tetra, and Linebeck a wish. Linebeck found out the world was a dream, so he wished himself to be alive.”

“And where is Oshus now?”

“He hasn’t been seen since,” Wind said sadly, “believe me, if I could, Linebeck wouldn’t be the only one alive. The King was very weak, I think he could barely grant Linebeck’s wish.”

Legend dropped Wind at the end of his answer. As Wind fell to the ground, Legend stumbled to the river. 

“I just want her back,” Legend cried, tears mixing in with the stream, “I saw him and it was like being asleep all over again.”

Wind walked over to him, “who did you see?”

Legend smiled in a bitter-sweet way, “her name was Marin. She was this singer on an island called Koholit, she wanted to be able to fly and see the world. She wanted to sing for everyone, animals and people alike. I told her I would make her wish come true…”

He sobbed, “but then I saved this thing, the Wind Fish, a giant whale under a curse and I woke up in the middle of the ocean. I thought I went mad and made up the whole thing before researching myths about the whale.”

Legend continued, “I had already lost so much, my family, my normal life. It was too much with Marin. I see her every night, but I just want to see her in the day. I saw Linebeck, I recognized the air around him, I thought maybe there was a way…”

He was silent when Wind decided to speak. 

“I understand,” he explained, “in my dream, I didn’t always have Linebeck, but I had Ciela. She was this fairy that Oshus told to journey with me. She was my best friend and I thought we would be together always, but… I’m grateful that I have Linebeck. 

“He’s lost someone too, he had this girlfriend, Jolene, and he didn’t realize that she couldn’t come with.”

“Sometimes I wish I never woke up.” Legend spoke, “I’d rather be on that island than anywhere else.”

“But those worlds can’t sustain themselves,” Wind explained, “they are doomed to die out. We just have to be cherish the memories we made, because that’s all they are.”

Legend rubbed his eyes, “memories, that seems to be a theme around here… But what do I do when the only thing I see when I close my eyes is her.”

“We keep dreaming, and enjoy waking up.”

“Why are you one the most mature kids ever?”

“Probably because I stabbed a man in his head.”

“That’ll do it.”

They were silent for a while and they listened to the stream go by. It was peaceful, and Legend felt a weight lift off him that he hadn’t known was there. 

Wind, on the other hand, could finally relate to someone. Linebeck never wanted to bring up the dream unless it was about the adventure, not the people or that state of being. He knew that if he ever has a nightmare or freaks out at seeing another fairy, he can go to Legend. 

After all, they apparently had the same ‘whale god was put under a curse that only a hero could break in a dream’ quest. Weird how similar they were to each other, yet they were also different. 

Wind smiled and broke the silence after a while. 

“Should we tell him that Wild’s Hyrule has a landmass named after him?”

“Oh goddess no! I’ve only known him for a short time, but he does not need an ego boost.”


	2. In the Luminous Stones

The wolf was everywhere.

Ever since Link woke up, he’s seen it, following him in the distance. He would hear it howling in the distance, singing its song. Sometimes the beast would be right in front of him, moving its head in a way that seemed like it wanted to be followed.

Link tried to follow, but it was at that moment when monsters or Yiga attacked. Eventually, he realized that the wolf must be an omen of bad things to come, so he started ignoring it.

At night, the howls followed him, and he could see those blue eyes. Those eyes glowed like luminous stones, almost begging to be attacked and scavenged. The light kept him awake some nights, and Link tried his best to block out the creature.

Until one day…

He was resting in his house when his horse started to make a fuss in his miniature stable. He walked outside to see what the issue was, but all he could see was his horse bucking in rearing. He tried to calm her down, but to no avail as the horse became wilder, bolting out of the stable, dragging Link along with her.

“Hey!” Link shouted as he was forced onto the horse’s back. He attempted to pull the reigns, but nothing could stop her. The horse sped off into a weird path on the edge of cliff before it finally slowed down.

Then, a howl.

The horse reared at the noise, knocking Link off into a lower path. He stood up quickly to see his horse running back where they came. He was too busy worrying to notice the stones around him start glowing in the haze of twilight.

“The long day has finally come to an end,” a voice from behind him spoke, “and it seems the sun and moon can finally meet once again.”

Link turned around to see the thing he feared most, the wolf. It was sitting there calmly, eyes shining with the stones, and then it shifted.

A glow like the spirit embers he saw on the king and Mipha surrounded the wolf and spread out to reveal the shape of a man. He was wearing black armor with a spiky helmet and shield. Along the armor ran designs that reminded Link of the Sheikah tech, as the style was similar and the color the same. Between the chest plate and greaves, Link could see an aging skeleton. Add that to the spiritual aura, Link was fairly certain this man was dead.

“Who are you?” Link asked as he pulled out his sword.

The man took note of his weapon, a common traveler’s sword that has certainly seen better days.

“You have not reclaimed the Blade of Evil’s Bane,” the man spoke.

“Who are you?” Link repeated.

“I am a shadow of a shadow,” the man spoke, “the lasting light that dies in the darkness, a soul caught in misery and yet remains. To put it simply, I am a Hero’s Shade.”

Why is everyone in Hyrule cryptic! Link screamed in his mind.

“What do you want with me?” Link still kept his guard up, “you’ve done nothing but lead me into monsters. Are you with the Yiga?”

The Shade scoffed, “they attack you when we meet because they fear what I can do. I can teach you how to defend, attack, and destroy every trace of Ganon.”

At the mention of his enemy, Link’s eyes flared. The Shade nodded in understanding.

“I fought him thousands of years ago,” the Shade continued, “so did my predecessors.”

Link paused, “you- you’re the hero from ten thousand years ago!”

The Shade shook its head, “I am from even farther back. Something happened after me, to cause what is now called the Calamity, the most dangerous form of Ganon yet.”

“What can you teach me?”

“Every move the spirit of the hero has ever learned,” the Shade stabbed his shield into the ground, sticking it there, and revealed his impressive looking sword. The sword looked like a royal guard’s sword, but more massive and lacking the scarlet markings, while being covered in luminous stones. “So?”

Link said nothing and readied his stance.

“Then let’s begin.”

They fought through the night, the Shade demonstrating a move and Link repeating it. They were mostly silent, with the Shade every once in while pointing out of mistake. Eventually, dawn came and the Shade sheaved his weapon.

“It is time for me to go,” he said, almost sounding melancholy, “we will meet again as you advance in your quest.”

Link nodded and whistled for his horse to come get him. As she galloped towards him, the Shade started to fade into the sunlight.

Deciding nothing of it, Link climbed into his saddle and whispered to his horse. It was time to face another Divine Beast, so it was onward to Death Mountain.

As the hero rode away, the Shade smiled under his helmet.

“I will always be with you, cub,” he whispered and turned into a wolf once again to follow the hero from a distance.

\--

Over the course of Link’s adventure, he met the Shade more times. They barely spoke unless Link asked a question himself. He tested this sometimes by asking about the Shade’s journey. Link learned that the Shade learned his attack through his journey and had a companion who helped him.

One day, he asked a question that gave the Shade pause.

“Why are you teaching me?” Link asked while practicing something called the ending blow, “did you also teach the hero before me?”

It was rare when Link actually struck his teacher, but the question distracted him, allowing Link to stab him through the non-existent abdomen. The Shade phased through and stood up.

“No, I didn’t,” he answered the second question first, “I barely have any knowledge of that hero.”

He sighed, “we have a connection, I have met you before, we were friends.”

Link’s eyebrows knitted together, “you knew me 100 hundred years ago, didn’t you?”

“Something like that,” the Shade replied, “you’ll understand in time. But besides that, the last time I saw you, I knew the world had left you to your own devices, which made you both alone, weak, and” -he smiled- “wild. I had the power to help you, so I decided I had to.”

The sun rose up and the Shade was already disappearing, “you are ready, go and face Ganon. We will meet again someday.”

It was then that the Shade took how his helmet to reveal a skeleton, which dusted away to show an old man’s face. The face was around his fifties, with graying short hair and the eyes were still a fierce blue. It was that moment that made Link wonder how he died.

“I wanted to see you one last time,” he smiled and the light around him dimmed, “go and do not falter, cub…”

With that, the Shade vanished, and nothing left of the age-old spirit remained but a few luminous pebbles falling to ground, which now had an everlasting shadow of a wolf.

\--

It wouldn’t be months after defeating the calamity that Link learned the meaning of the Shade.

One day, while Zelda was away with Purah, he heard a knock at his door. He answered it and that started a new journey. He met living legends of heroes all named Link, this time none of them skeletons. He was given the name Wild and he enjoyed the company of people like him. Everything was fine!

Except for the nagging sensation that one of the group would be the Shade in their future.

Age wise, there was no telling. From what he learned from the group, he was at the very end of the timeline by thousands of years, so any one of them could’ve been it. He marked out Wind, who he could never be the series figure of the Shade, Four, who would never be that tall, Hyrule, who didn’t look much for fighting tactics, and Sky, who was far too cheerful and maybe too far away timeline wise.

That left, Legend, Warriors, Twilight, and Time. Legend had a huge arsenal and many adventures, Wild never found out if those adventures included a companion and turning into a wolf. Warriors did have a companion, a fairy by the name of Proxi, and he wore armor, though it didn’t look like the Shade’s, and was somewhat serious. Twilight had some kind of pelt on his back, but that was barely any proof, but he had mentioned someone who had left him after his journey.

Time, on the other hand, was at the top of Wild’s list. His armor was incredibly similar to the Shade’s, he was just as cryptic, and his wife told them that they were looking for a friend of his, a fairy. Time started his journey early into his life, so he must’ve learnt his abilities during his quest.

As he watched Time to see any evidence of his theory, Wild noticed Twilight also watching him. Once they crossed eyes, coming to a silent agreement that neither of them tells Time that they were watching him. What Twilight’s reason was, Wild couldn’t be sure.

Over time, Wild learned to ignore the nagging, pushing the thoughts to the back of his head. Perhaps the Shade wasn’t a part of their group, there was more than nine heroes after all, if legends were to be believed. Maybe the Shade missed the curse train and was resting in his own time.

Wild grew closer with everyone, learning their mannerism and becoming friends. He became closest with Twilight, who shared his longing for old friends, and Warriors, a man who, despite his looks, liked wild battle strategies. Everyone got nick names on top of nick names, like Wind being called sailor from Warriors and Legend being called Rat behind his back. Even Time started calling Twilight pup, which Twilight was mocked to no end for, but it barely registered in Wild’s mind.

But then Twilight called him cub.

“What did you say?” Wild’s head snapped up to look at him.

Twilight immediately brought his hands up, “I’m sorry, I won’t call you that. It just slipped out.”

“It- it’s fine,” Wild calmed his racing heart, “it just caught me by surprise.”

Please don’t be him, please don’t be him! Was running in Wild’s mind, he didn’t want any of his friends to die in their fifties, when Hylians at least die around 100. Maybe it was fluke, maybe it was a coincidence. Besides, it’s not like Twilight had any other connections to the Shade.

That was until a very familiar wolf walked into camp and fell asleep near Twilight’s things. While Wind was saying how cool it looked, Wild’s mind was crashing and all he could see was luminous stones in dusk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do take requests for one-shots


	3. A Year of a Century - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild died. He met up with the heroes. It was that simple. 
> 
> Part 1/2.

He had died. That was for certain. He saw the fires burn around him, heard the call of his name, and he collapsed. He could feel his breathing slow and the darkness surrounding him. 

He was dead. Nothing should’ve brought him back to life. 

Until he saw light. And later, was thrown into an adventure. He met others with his name and story, made friends with them. 

This was indeed an adventure! A fun quest where everything was light hearted, but still had a serious goal. Unlike his challenge, which was harsh and strict. 

But… none of the others had died. At least, he thought so, as he couldn’t rule out Time. None of the other heroes brought up dying until they asked about his scars. 

“Where’d you get them?” Legend asked one day. 

“I died,” he answered, “but was brought back to life with magic, the scars are a remnant of that.”

They all nodded and went on with the day. He was enjoying himself, though, and he hoped it would never end. 

Things started to change about a year into their adventure, they had traveled through seven of their Hyrules, only excluding Sky’s and his. He was fine with that, he didn’t want to see the world where he died. Sky’s world on the other hand, they didn’t know why they haven’t been there. 

Anyway, they were camping on the edge of some forest when a wolf walked into their area. He was immediately on guard, pulling out his sword and pointing it at the beast. 

“Wild!” Time shouted, “what are you doing?”

“There’s a wolf!” He pointed out. 

Warriors rolled his eyes, “that’s just your mutt Wolfie!”

The wolf growled at the captain, who glared in return. Concerned, the wolf padded over and looked at him. 

“Oh,” he set down his sword and the memories came back to him, “Wolfie. Sorry, guys, I must be tired.”

“Sleep,” Hyrule told him,” I’ll take care of the food tonight!”

There was a chorus of groans as he thanked Hyrule. He went to his tent and slept, but not before thinking. 

Why did he forget Wolfie, who is secretly Twilight? Was he really just tired or was it something else?

It was only going to get more weird and worrying. 

The next thing to happen was when he forgot where he left his Sheikah Slate. He swore he placed it on his belt like always, but maybe it fell off. 

It was a couple hours later when he was running ragged trying to find it when Time and Twilight came back from fishing. They found him a mess, almost crying, and tearing the camp apart. 

“Cub,” Twilight put down their fishing poles, “what’s wrong.”

“I can’t find the slate!” He calmed himself down, “it should’ve been on my belt, but it’s nowhere!”

“Cub,” Twilight pulled something out of his pocket, the slate! “You gave use the slate this morning so we could find fish. Remember?”

He did not. And that scared him. Why didn’t he remember? Why didn’t he remember giving away something that he would die to protect?!

He faked a laugh, “my bad. Must have slipped my mind!”

“Are you okay,” Twilight asked in a low voice. 

“Always,” he smiled through gritted teeth. 

The next week, he wore something strange. Wind was the first one to point it out. 

“Where’s your tunic?” He asked innocently. 

“My what?” He pulled at his travelers tunic, “this is a tunic.”

Wind pursed his lips, “I mean your blue one!”

“My blue one?” He said slowly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Did you actually hit your head?” Legend snarked, “this is the third time this has happened. First, Wolfie, then your slate, now you don’t remember your tunic, which you wear everyday!”

Again, it all came back to him in a flash. He shook his head. 

“I thought you were talking about my some of my other clothes that are also blue,” he lied, “if you’re talking about my champion’s tunic, I had to wash it.”

“Bull!” Legend spat out, “the only person here dirtier than me is you. You would rather jump in a lake than wash your clothes. What’s going on?”

He then proceeded to ignore Legend for the rest of their time in that Hyrule. 

What ever was happening wasn’t serious until a couple of weeks later. At that point, he had had multiple slip ups, forgetting a name here, not recognizing something there, and soon he was learning to ignore them. Whenever he forgot, he simply pushed it out of his mind and acted like everything was normal. 

That is, except for the time when a brand new person was walking around the group. He was short, even shorter than Wind, yet he carried a sword and acted like a grown up. He was chatting with the other heroes, so he assumed he was a friend, but he didn’t know who he was. He certainly wasn’t going to ask. 

Just act normal, he told himself, it will come back to you, just act normal. 

“Wild!” The new kid waved to him. 

Just act normal, just act normal, justactnormal, justactnormal, justact-

“Hey,” he smiled, “what are you doing.”

“I told you we would take a look at your weapons today,” he explained, “see why they’re so fragile.”

“Sounds good,” he nodded, “what do you want to do.”

The kid looked him in the eye for a good minute, not moving at all. 

“What are you doing?” He asked nervously. 

The kid frowned, “you aren’t looking at me directly. The others have told me about this, but please tell me it’s not true.”

“What’s not?” 

The kid sighed, “what’s my name?”

Panicking internally, he made an educated guess. If he is hanging out with them, and has apparently talked to him before, then he must be a hero. There was only one name he could have. 

“Link, of course,” he scoffed, “what else would it be.”

“My nickname, Wild,” the kid put emphasis on Wild, making his words very clear. When he said nothing, the kid got his answer. 

“Twilight,” the kid said softly, “he doesn’t remember me.”

There was a scramble as Twilight stood up and all the Links looked over to see what was the matter. 

“Please, no,” Twilight said in shock, “Wild, you remember Four, right?”

Four. His shirt had four colors. He had four elemental patterns on said shirt. He was about four feet tall. Four. 

“Four,” he said aloud, “Four. Four. Four. Four.”

“He’s losing it,” Warriors declared, but they could tell he was worried. 

“This is bad,” Sky held the Master Sword, probably asking for information. 

“Wild,” Twilight kneeled down in front of his ward and held his hands, “it’s all right.”

“What is wrong with me,” Wild nearly cried, “why can’t I remember?”

He pulled his hood over his head, covering his face and his tears. 

Four, meanwhile, stood still, a look of worry on his face. He didn’t know what to do or say when one of his friends had looked at him and saw nothing. 

Time addressed the group, “we’re going to look for food or monsters. C’mon.”

There was a slight call of annoyance, but no one refused. They all grabbed their weapons and headed out, except for Wild and Twilight. Four faltered before running after them. 

“It’s okay,” Twilight hummed, “it’ll be alright.”

“Why can’t I remember, Twilight?” Wild covered his face with his hands, “I didn’t recognize you as Wolfie, now I don’t know who that even is!”

Twilight smiled bitter sweetly, “that was Four, the Hero of Minish, Men, and the Four Sword. He may be the shortest, but he’s way older than Wind. He’s a smith and his greatest mission right now is figure out why you keep breaking weapons.”

He laughed, “that’s never going to happen.”

There was silence. 

“I still don’t remember him.”

“I know, maybe it will return like the other things did.”

He doubted it. Four’s distraught face was already fading from his mind. 

Four, he chanted in his head, Four. Four, Hero of Four, Four. Friend, Four. Four. Three. Two. One. 

He fell asleep that night and his memories would never be the same. 

Morning came and the only question on his mind was who were the two short kids sword fighting at the camp. He would be glad to forget the reaction he saw on the kid in blue’s face when he told them he didn’t recognize them. 

“Wild,” Wind was already crying, “it’s me, Wind.”

“Who?”

It got worse and worse from there. In the following weeks, he had to be explained to each morning who everyone was and what they were doing. Each hero had to explain their adventure to him and assure him that he was indeed their friend. 

The order, or so they told him, that he forgot was the young boy named Four, another kid named Wind, the knight Warriors, the homeless looking one named Legend, the only brunet in the group named Hyrule, someone they all swear is the Hero of Time, and, finally, a squire named Sky. The only person he could remember was Twilight, who didn’t know whether this was a blessing or a curse. 

He woke up one morning in a tent and saw Twilight. 

“What are you doing here, Twilight? I thought you had your own sleeping place.”

Twilight made a tiny smile, “we need to talk.”

Ten minutes later he exited the tent with a years worth of info dumped in his head. He was forgetting everyone? These were his friends? He shrugged it off and chose to believe his friend. 

Three of the heroes were chatting he saw, and Twilight soon joined them. They all had grim faces and they kept glancing towards him. Nervously, he avoided their gaze. 

He felt something at his side in that moment, like a small weight made itself known to him. He looked down and saw some brown and blue glowing contraption on his hip. He thought this thing, whatever it was, was the Princess’. He should probably ask Twilight where she was so he could give it back before she skinned him alive. 

He butted into the area where the four heroes were discussing. He bowed low to the one’s he recognized as a squire and knights. 

“I’m sorry, sirs,” he said in a pained voice, “but may I ask Twilight a question.”

One of the knights, the eldest in the group, sighed, “of course, Wild.”

“You don’t have to call us sirs,” the other knight grunted, “you’re also a knight.”

Really? Strange what he had forgotten. Remembered that he was holding something of the Princess’, but not how he got it or even knew her. 

“Twilight,” stood up straight, “where is Her Highness? I believe this is her’s.”

“Her Highness?” Twilight looked down at what he was holding out, the slate, “Wild…”

“Yes?”

“That’s yours, the Princess gave it to you.”

“She would never do that, it means too much to her. Where is she?”

“She, Wild, we won’t see her for a while, you should keep the slate.”

He shook his head and forced the slate into Twilight’s hands, “she wouldn’t want me to have it. I would ruin it somehow, so please give it to her when you see her.”

Twilight couldn’t respond, except for saying, “of course, Wild.”

He nodded his thanks and walked away back to his tent. He was missing something, something that the slate was replacing. He was missing something…

His sword! He sped up his pace at the realization. He had a sword, right? That’s how he knew the Princess, he pulled the sword and she hated him for that. Now, where was it? The King would kill him if he lost the blade of evil’s bane. 

He accidentally walked into a different tent than his when his question was answered, as the sword he could faintly recalled was laying carefully on a pillow. He smiled and went to reach it. But, as he grabbed it, he felt a burst of clarity, like a thousand lives were pouring into his brain at once. 

The next thing he knew he was outside on the ground and surrounded by everyone. 

“What happened?” The kid in blue shouted. 

“The Master Sword burnt him!” The squire stumbled out, “she wouldn’t do that for no reason, though.”

The world was spinning for him, until it came into focus when Twilight entered his view. The burst of clarity came back, but much more milder, and, for the first time in months, he properly looked at his comrades faces. 

“Twilight,” he winched at the burning on his hand and he connected the dots, “I’m not a hero anymore.”

“Don’t say that!” Twilight snapped, “you are one.”

“If I can’t remember,” he looked at all their faces, names vaguely coming to mind, “how can I be a hero. She doesn’t want me anymore. I didn’t save everyone. I can’t save anyone.”

“That’s not true!”

“Twilight,” the squire said. Sky! The name came back for a moment. “She, Fi, she says, he’s no longer strong enough to wield her.”

“I told you,” he cradled his hand, “good riddance, though.”

“That sword can go and shove it!” Twilight hissed, mentally reminding himself to apologize to Sky later. 

“Guys,” he tried to sit up, “the burn, I think it has fixed my mind for a little while. I have to tell you something before… before I forget you all for good.”

“It’s alright, Wild,” the knight, Time, forced him to lay down on the pillow that they placed under him. 

“I haven’t been honest,” he continued, “when I said I died and was brought back, I lied. I died, but then I woke up here, with all of you. I half thought this was the afterlife.”

“What are you saying?” The short one, Four, asked. 

“I don’t know how I’m here,” he explained, “I should be dead. Maybe that’s what this is. I’m dying finally.”

“That’s nonsense!” The homeless- Legend snarled, “you are not dying.”

“This has been the best year of my life,” he ignored him, “I will miss you all.”

The last thing he saw was Twilight’s concerned face. 

Darkness surrounded him and it never left. Even when he woke up in the morning, he was in a hazy mist. He found a group of eight boys and men and he only had two questions. 

“Who are you? Who am I?”

Come nightfall, he disappeared from the camp and wouldn’t be found for a long time.

At the same time, a female voice was carried over the plains, calling out to him to open his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you figure out what is happening, you get a cookie. Part two will hopefully be here soon. It was supposed to be one part, but I had to sleep.


	4. A Year of a Century - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2!

When they could never find Wild, they assumed the worse. Twilight, who knew him best, figured he was telling the truth: he had died. 

They had a funeral, but not a traditional one. They stood over a rushing river and dropped something of Wild’s into it as a way to finally say goodbye. No one mentioned the disappearance of Wild’s slate, which vanished from Twilight’s things at the same time as Wild. They all said a few words, and, since they couldn’t do anything else, they moved on. 

Physically, not mentally. Physically they traveled still and helped citizens, but mentally they were tired. Their feelings were best described by Legend’s opinions on anyone’s food. 

“It’s not Wild’s,” he threw his bowl away in anger, “I would rather eat nothing but apples than eat something that isn’t his.”

They were angry, they were annoyed, they were sad. As all of them were knights, or at least familiar with the crown, they put on a strong face and acted like all of Hyrule was watching them. Heroes never change. 

—

“Who’s land is this?” Time asked, scanning the horizon. 

There was a chorus of ‘not mine’ and Time glanced at them. 

“None of you?” He grunted, “then this must be a new world, which means…”

“New hero!” For the first time in weeks, Wind smiled. 

“Don’t get too excited,” Twilight put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, “we don’t know for sure that there is a hero here.”

Inside, all of them were hoping for a new hero. Maybe they would liven the group up and bring their number back to nine. It was only a matter of finding them. 

A week later of countless walking, they were directed toward a town called, something about a hero living there. Entering the town, they were stopped by a guard. 

“Halt!” The guard, more of a villager with a pitchfork, commanded, “state are you? Who your business”

The heroes looked at each other until the guard realized his mistake. 

“I mean… who are you?” He collected himself, “state your business!”

“We are travelers looking for the hero,” Time answered, “we were told he lived here.”

The guard smiled, “you’re looking for Link? He isn’t home right now, but I saw him walking to the lab up there!”

He pointed to the only building on the cliff that was glowing blue and smoking. The group thanked him and made their way up there. 

“Be careful of those scientists!” The guard called after, “they’ll probably blow you up.”

“We can handle it,” Legend waved off the concern, “I’ve dealt with enough of Ravio’s ‘inventions’ to be immune to explosions.”

Strangely enough, the guard wasn’t exaggerating. Because as soon as Time knocked on the lab’s door, it blew up in their faces, smacking into Sky and tossing him down the path. Everyone was covered in soot except for Legend, who still looked like himself. 

“How!?” Hyrule coughed out. 

Legend shrugged, “fire proof clothes and magic. Again, Ravio is way worse.”

“Nice going, Symin!” A young girl’s voice shouted from within the lab, “you blew up some nice strangers!”

“That wasn’t me,” an older man’s voice replied in exasperation, “that was the Princess!”

“There you go again blaming the innocent Princess!” The smoke cleared so they could see inside the building to see two people arguing. Out of nowhere, a girl popped into view, face covered in smut, and smiling widely. 

“Terribly sorry,” she apologized, “that explosion was supposed to be contained inside the lab, but we didn’t take into account that the slightest movement on the door could cause it to be just in the radius of the blast.”

“It’s all right,” Time assured the girl, “we were told we could find the hero here. Is that true?”

The girl frowned, “he’s not here. Please forgive me for not introducing myself, I am Zelda. And you are?”

“You’re Zelda?” “You’re the Princess?”

Varying faces of shock were displayed by the heroes at the thought of this being the Princess of this world. A girl with short hair, covered in ash, and looking like a mad scientist. Wind immediately decided she should not meet Tetra with her cannons. 

“Yes, technically, I am,” Zelda gave a small smile, “but I am not focusing on leading until everything settles down after the attack. But please do not address me as such, I am simply Zelda.”

“Well, Zelda,” Twilight started to speak before his eyes drifted to something she was holding, “what is that?”

Everyone’s eyes looked at the Sheikah Slate that was clutched in her hands. It, like her, was blackened, but there was no mistaking the glowing eye. 

“It’s the Sheikah Slate,” she smiled proudly, “a piece of ancient tech that can do wonders! But I promise it’s nothing like the guardians. Perfectly safe!”

“How- how did you get it?” Twilight stuttered, “the last person wh- you! That means your…”

He stared at her face, which was starting to look concerned. 

“You’re his Zelda, aren’t you?” 

“Who’s Zelda?” She asked, “I’m the only Zelda in the country.”

“You’re telling me we came here now?” Four groaned, “after that happened! After he…”

The group immediately got depressed at the idea that they were now in Wild’s Hyrule, but without Wild. Here was his Zelda, who didn’t know what they were going through. 

“Excuse me?” Zelda poked Warriors, “can any of you tell me what’s going on? If you’re here about Link, then you missed him a while ago. He left on a trip and I haven’t seen him in a while. He was supposed to arrive yesterday, but he’s late.”

It was at that moment when Sky finally made his way back up the hill after being blown up. He was huffing and looked at all the sad faces. 

“What happened?” He asked. Four leaned over and explained to him. 

Twilight swallowed and looked at the Princess, “we need to talk to you.”

Zelda agreed to talk to them, closing the lab door after she told her companions what she was doing, and they sat down. One explanation later about who they were and what happened, she was shaking her head. 

“I believe who you are,” she pointed to Twilight and Time, “you both look like your murals and you, Wind, we have a replica of your blue tunic. But, Link, he isn’t dead!”

“He is,” Twilight urged, “he told us himself that he was dying.”

Zelda refused to listen, “he’s an idiot! He wouldn’t know death if it killed him! If he’s dead, how did he give me the slate after he saved me and still have it with you? If he was with you, then why would he start forgetting again?” 

Twilight shrugged sadly, “I’m sorry…”

She lashed out, “if you did actually know him, then you know that he wouldn’t just die without a fight.”

“But it wasn’t a fight that killed him,” Wind protested, “he told us that he died and was brought back to life and it was finally catching up with him.”

She froze, “wait, what? What exactly did he say?”

Hyrule was the one to answer, “uh, he said that he died and then woke up with us. He thought it was the afterlife.”

Strangely, the girl, after frowning for a second, smiled. With a sigh of relief she spoke to the heroes. 

“I think there’s been some confusion, then. Link was dead, and he was brought back to life.”

“We know that-“

She raised a finger to cut off Legend. 

“But he was only brought back after being put in the Shrine of Resurrection,” she explained more after seeing the blank looks on their faces, “a chamber that healed him after death. The important thing to note, though, is that it took 100 years for us to heal him, and even that wasn’t perfect. He came out with no memories!”

The gears in Twilight’s head started turning, “you don’t mean?”

She nodded, “the slate disappeared as well? The Shrine ran on the slate working, Link took it with him when he woke up.”

“Please don’t give us hope,” Four begged. 

She ignored him, “for some reason, while Link was being healed in the Shrine, his body and the slate appeared with your group. He spent a compressed 100 years with you and he started forgetting. When he disappeared, he was actually waking up from his resurrection.”

“You’re saying then,” Twilight slowly spoke, “that Wild is alive.”

“Of course,” she smiled confidently, “it is the only reasonable explanation for these contradictions. Besides, if he was dead, why is he coming up the path?”

The Links all turned as fast as they could to see a cloaked figure on some machine ride up to them. The figure jumped off the machine, pushed past the group, and ran up to Zelda. 

“Zelda!” A familiar voice cried, “I’m sorry I’m late, I have an excuse, though! You see, the Rito were having problems with lynel attacks somehow, so I had to help and… I got this!”

The figure pulled a jar of golden bugs and handed it to her. 

“You got all twenty of them!” She gasped excitedly, “these are so rare! Imagine all the experiments we can do with these.”

It was then that the figure turned around, noticing the group, who were all staring in shock. 

He looked different. His hair was longer and the scars we more healed than before. His outfit changed to have a brown chest plate and black sleeves. He smiled more and had a different air around him. Still, there was no denying this was him. This was Wild, alive and well. 

“Wild,” Twilight had tears in his eyes. Not able to control himself, he rammed into him, pulling him into a hug. In less than a second, Wild was buried under eight other heroes. 

A moment of uncomfortable shifting occurred for Wild before he spoke. 

“I’m sorry,” he pushed them off and moved closer to Zelda, “but who are you.”

The heroes faces showed heartbreak, but they weren’t surprised that he didn’t remember them. At least he was alive. 

“Link,” Zelda put a hand on his shoulder, “these people knew you from the past 100 years.”

“Oh,” his demeanor changed to be much more sour, “I apologize, but I don’t remember you.”

“It’s alright, Cu- Link,” Twilight smiled, “we’re just happy to see you again.”

In the coming months, the Links were content. Wild never regained any of the memories from before, but he agreed to travel with them again. They met each other once more and made new memories. 

So, same old, same old for Wild. It was strange. He was enjoying himself, though, and he hoped it would never end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the ideas y’all commented! They were really interesting and y’all got really close to what was happening. 
> 
> This two shot came from the idea of what if Wild was traveling with them during his slumber and someone mentioned to me about how they could meet up again after he woke up. Basically, any of Jojo’s old drawings of LU were the past Wild and the newer one’s are the present Wild.


	5. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick one shot for LA’s release and my precious baby Marin.

Legend was feeling nostalgic, but be didn’t know why though. He was staring wistfully into the distance with a glassy look in his eyes. Maybe it was the ocean. 

They were in Wind’s world, currently on the coast of an island that he apparently owned. It was a tropical island with one single building and a pond in the middle. Flowers were blooming everyone, with one flower in particular growing in the bushes: a hibiscus. 

That’s what it is, Legend figured out with a frown on his face. He leaned onto his fist, Wind’s world was a lot like the island. 

Ever since he had his freakout over seeing Linebeck, him and Wind started sharing looks. More like Legend was glancing at Wind, wondering when he would spill his secrets. He had always been distrustful. He had to be, after all he had been through. 

During his glances, Legend realized something about Wind. He reminded him a lot of her, of Marin. 

He was from an island and wanted to explore. He might not have had a singing voice, but his conducting was quite literally magical. He was a free spirit and seagulls would hang around him. The blue he wore was reminiscent of the dress she wore and their smiles were equally bright. 

If Marin and him had a kid, this is what they would be like, he thought out of nowhere. 

In that moment, his mind crashed. Why was he thinking this? Why was Marin back on his mind? He thought he had moved past this. 

He sighed, ever since talking to Wind, he thought he was fine with being awake. But, sleeping had become hard, so he didn’t often sleep. That caused a cycle of him being annoyed and sleep deprived, which made him think of why he wasn’t sleeping, which would cause him to not sleep more. 

Maybe forgetting and moving on wasn’t a straight line thing. He had to pick himself up, move forward. Keep waking up. 

Wind was right. 

He shook his head, no use dwelling on the past. He stared at Wind, who was currently laughing and pushing people into the pond. 

“Hey, Wind!” Legend got up and yelled at the hero. 

“What’s up!” Wind bounced over. 

“So, you’re a sailer right,” a nod, “have you ever made your own boat.”

“No,” he scrunched up his face, “but I’m still an amazing sailer!”

Legend ruffled his hair, “a boater who can’t build boats? Preposterous! Come on.”

Legend walked down the the surf and found some fallen logs. 

“What are we doing?” Wind asked. 

“I’m,” he paused, “I’m teaching you how to build a raft.”

“CAW!” Right then, a seagull landed near them. Legend looked fondly at it and turned to Wind. 

“What about it?”

“Yeah!”

Legend smiled and he could almost feel Marin with him once again, but, this time, he wasn’t as lonely as before.


	6. Dreams are my Motif I Guess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Story idea from my bud Wind/Spirit on Discord!

It was official, Legend thought, every version of Hyrule sucks. Except his. Wait, no, scratch that. His Hyrule was exceptionally terrible as well, he just had pride for its terribleness. 

They were now in Warriors world, which was very hard to discern as his world looks like four of their worlds in certain parts. They didn’t even realized they left Wild’s until they appeared deep in Warriors’ Faron Woods, with their more unique trees. Once they realized where they were, they were immediately attacked. 

“WARRIORS!” Legend shouted as a black mist surrounded them. “What is this?!”

Warriors tried to answer as the mist took the form of a lady devoid of color except for her red eyes, “she knows we’re here!”

“Who?” Twilight asked, raising his sword. 

“Cia,” Warriors glared at the Dark Cia. 

“Oh!” Wind gasped, “you mean the weird lady who wants to date you?”

He groaned, “in essence yes. In case she already doesn’t know who you are, don’t use your names until we defeat this. Should be as simple as stabbing it.”

The Dark Cia smirked at the comment. It crooked its finger at them in a mocking manner, almost daring them to attack. One of them, maybe Wild, moved slightly, setting off the creature. It grabbed its staff and slammed it into the ground. More black mist appeared where the staff hit and starting spewing into the air, filling up their sights. 

“What’s it doing?” Time demanded. 

“I don’t know!” Warriors brought up his shield, “these have never done this before.”

And then they were engulfed. Legend saw nothing but inky darkness and was coughing on the mist. 

“Guys?” He called out, reaching to find someone. Strangely, his voice seemed muted and the ground felt different. It was no longer as soft as the dirt was, but a hard, wooden floor. 

And then his vision returned, and Legend found himself thrust into… his house? He couldn’t explain it, but this was his house. By the looks of it, it was his house a little bit before he left to go on the current adventure. It was after Ravio cleaned out most of his stuff, but before he gave permission for him to rent again. 

“Magic,” Legend groaned, he could almost taste it, “illusions are so creative!”

To test out his illusion theory, Legend poked what would’ve been his house’s door. As he suspected, his hand phased right through, but not before feeling somewhat like a door. 

“Alright,” he pointed his sword in every direction around, “I’m ready!”

“Leg- hey!” He felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned to see Four, with fear in his eyes. “There you are! I can’t find anyone else.”

“Jeez,” Legend raised an eyebrow at the worry in his voice, “it’s just an illusion of my house, why are you so worked up?”

“Your house?” Four grabbed his hand, “this doesn’t look like a- house?”

In that moment, both of their views flickered. Four saw a split second of the home in question. Legend, meanwhile, saw a courtyard and a statue of a princess sitting on the lawn. The wind was blowing and someone was laughing in the background. 

They two let go of each other and neither could see the other. 

“Four!” Legend cried, back in his house, “where’d you go? FOUR!”

He waved his hand around and connected to someone else. His vision changed again to reveal Wild standing in front of him and empty blackness surrounding them. There was a faint blue glow coming from somewhere. 

“Wild,” Legend held onto his wrist guards, “what’s going on?”

He wasn’t responding. Wild had a blank look on his face and he was staring off into nothingness. 

“Wild!” With his free hand, Legend slapped Wild. In shock and confusion, Wild back away, releasing Legend’s hold. Then Legend was back in his house. 

“What?!” He was starting to get annoyed. Why was everyone acting so weird?

“Legend!” A voice from behind shouted and he felt a hand on his back. Turning around, he saw an annoyed Warriors. Once turned around, Warriors tried to remove his hand. 

“No!” Legend forced Warriors into holding hands, “apparently we can only see each other when touching, I’ve already lost two.”

Warriors frowned before nodding, “ran into Wind and Sky.”

“But since no one else has been answering my questions,” he glared, “what is happening?!”

Warriors snarled, “I don’t know. This hasn’t happened before.”

“Well, figure it out before that thing attacks!” Legend screamed before something interrupted him. 

“Mr. Hero?” A familiar voice asked. 

Confused, Legend turned around to find him, another version of him, laying on his bed, with Ravio sitting next to him. The other version of him was reading a book of some kind, idly flipping through it. 

“This is you and Ravio?” Warriors asked. 

“You can see it?” Legend’s eyes went wide, “Four saw a castle or something.”

“Hmm, Ravio?” Link glanced up. 

Ravio fiddled with his scarf, “thank you for letting me stay here. When you could’ve just kicked me out.”

He shrugged, “it was just pity. Couldn’t leave you to the monsters, now could I? Where would I buy unreasonably priced products!?”

Ravio laughed. 

Link flipped through another page, “but say, when are you going back to Lorule?”

Ravio’s face fell, “do you want me to leave?”

He sat up straight, “I didn’t say that!”

The bunny’s ears popped up, “does that mean you want me to stay!?”

Link fell off the bed, scrambling away from the idea of friendship, “I didn’t say that either!”

“Mr. Hero!” Ravio cheered, “you care about me!”

“Look, let’s get this straight,” Link stood up, picking up his book, “while I would never, ever, recommend your shop, your prices are horrendous and your costumer service somehow worse, I…”

He scrunched up his nose, “I wouldn’t buy my tools from anyone else.”

Suddenly, Link was being hugged by a crying Ravio. 

“You’re my best friend, too!” Ravio cried. Link, meanwhile, unsure of what to do, had a faint smile on his face and hugged back. 

Legend, on the other hand, felt his heart stop. As an onlooker onto his own life, he felt immense fear at what he saw and wanted to leave immediately. It was made worse when he realized who was with him. 

“You!” Legend turned around and pointed at Warriors, “don’t you ever tell anybody about this!”

His house faded away in the background and was replaced with a night time army camp. Tents surrounds them and a fire was smoldering nearby. 

“About what?” Warriors put a hand on his hip, “the fact that you have a single friend. I know everyone would be so shocked to find out.”

“Don’t.” Legend paused for emphasis, “tell. Anyone.”

Warriors opened his mouth to retort when, like before, the illusion stopped him. They both turned to see a slightly younger, less battle-hardened, Warriors trying to keep a fire alive. 

“C’mon!” Link grunted as he struggled with a flint. He was lucky he was mostly alone, as all the soldiers already went off to bed. “Light, damn you!”

“Hero,” a voice came from the darkness and settled next to Link. It was a Sheikah soldier with golden blond hair, “you should sleep.”

“In a moment, Sheik!” Link shot back and went back to trying to light the flint, “just let me do this.”

“You’ve been up since three in the morning,” Sheik stated, “and haven’t had any rest. Sleep, I’ll take care of the fire.”

Sheik tried to remove the the objects from Link’s hands, but he held on tight. Sheik glared at him. 

“Hero…” the Sheikah looked like he wanted to slap him, “this is childish!”

Link’s body stiffened before loosening immensely. His hands opened up and Sheik was able to get the flint. He grabbed it and started up the fire again with no problem.

“What is wrong with you today?” Sheik asked absentmindedly, “first you insist on taking first shift, then you throw yourself into battle, now this. You’re lucky I don’t tell the General about this- Hero?”

He stopped talking when Link clasped his hand. Sheik looked into his dead-shot eyes and saw tears forming. 

“Do you think we’ll find the Princess?” Link asked in a small voice. Never, in all their time together, had Sheik seen him like this. 

“Why, yes,” Sheik said slowly, “it is our duty and mission to serve her Highness, which entails finding her. Now, what is this about, Hero?”

Link covered his face, “I know I shouldn’t act like this, but… it feels like this war has been going on forever. There’s no end in sight with time travel on their side! And, I don’t especially feel like a Hero when I can’t even find the Princess. I have to be the Hero, though, I have to set the example! So, just let me do this!”

He took in a heavy breath, “I need to be able to do something.”

All was quiet. Sheik was facing an internal debate with himself about whether to tell him the truth or not. 

Not the time, he chided in his mind, soon. 

“We’ll find the Princess,” Sheik repeated, “and I’m sure she would want us to be well rested when she sees us again. You can take my tent if yours is not set up, Her- Link.”

Link cleared his tears away and put on his front. In a split second he was back to his soldier mode, cold and unfeeling. 

“Not necessary,” he shook his head, “but thank you, Sheik. I will be prepared at dawn for the strategy meeting like always.”

And then the memory faded into darkness. 

Legend looked to Warriors, who shared a reaction similar to that of him in the dream. 

“Don’t say anything,” Warriors growled roughly. 

“What?” Legend replied sarcastically, “don’t want people to know that Mr. Pretty Boy ruined his makeup?”

“I’m serious!”

“You didn’t seem to care when I said the same thing! And what is going on!”

Warriors was about to retort when he thought of something. Realization dawned on him as his eyes went wide. 

“She’s trapping us!” He shouted, “this is just a distraction to keep us occupied until she shows up.”

“Distracting us with what exactly?” Legend groaned, “random memories?”

“No,” Warriors corrected, “our worst memories. Our biggest fears…”

Legend scoffed, “really? Your worst memory, your biggest fear, is you crying in front of a comrade? That’s pitiful!”

Warriors snapped back, “you’re one to talk! Your worst memory is of you hanging out with your friend. What? Are you so afraid of being friendly with anyone?”

“There’s more to it than that!” Legend tightened his grip. 

“No,” Warriors tried to move away, “you’re afraid of companionship. That is weak!”

“And you’re afraid of being weak!” Legend screamed. 

Suddenly, Warriors managed to escape, vanishing from Legend’s line of sight. 

“You!” He looked around, the vision now becoming a beach, when he was suddenly punched in the face. Warriors appeared for a second and then disappeared. “Get back here!”

He threw his own punch and it landed in Warriors guts. The vision merged to reveal a room full of paintings of Warriors. 

“Egotist!” Legend growled. 

“Selfish!” Warriors grabbed Legend’s arm and flipped him, “do you know what the others are seeing? Something a lot worse than a hangout.”

“Yeah,” Legend kicked out Warriors’ legs, “I bet it’s also worse than you being unable to light a fire!”

A punch. The sound of a harp. A punch. A soldier’s barrack. A punch. A man in a blue cape. A punch. A Dark Link. 

Both of them were getting tired and getting nowhere. All they were doing is making it easy for Cia to capture them when she arrived. 

“This is pathetic,” Legend huffed with a weak smile on his face, “goddess, we are pathetic.”

“Yeah,” Warriors returned the smile, “we are. The others are probably afraid of actual things. Here we are, afraid of ourselves.”

“Tell no one about this?”

“Of course.”

“Second I think you’ve done otherwise, I’ll legit stab you.”

“Likewise.”

“Cia’s behind you.”

“WHAT?” 

Indeed she was, the real one. But they quickly defeated her and regrouped with the other. 

“So,” Hyrule sat down hours later, looking traumatized, “did any of you see anything interesting?”

There was silence. A few looked at each other. No one would talk about this day after this, but some of them left with more knowledge of each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bonus points to anyone who can figure out what Four and Wild’s worse fears are.


	7. The Hero of Men

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An odd thing to call a child...

“This,” Four smiled brightly as he looked at the house in front of them, “this is my world!”

Ever since meeting everyone, Four hadn’t been back to his time, so this was something special. Four beamed and gestured for them to follow him. 

“I want to show you my grandfather’s forge,” he lead them to the door, “well, he says it’s mine now, but I haven’t been able to use it for obvious reasons.”

“Nice place,” Time commented as they walked to see an old man sleeping in a chair.

“Grandfather!” Four shouted suddenly, causing the old man to stir. 

“L-link!?” Grandfather Smith bolted out of his slumber, “what are you doing here? You should be working!”

Four smiled sadly, “I told you that I had some business. I’ve told all our costumers so far that we aren’t taking orders and the Princess said she’ll pay to take of you while I’m gone.”

He looked to the group, “he’s old, losing his mind a bit. Grandfather, these are the people I have been traveling with.”

He introduced all of them, each Link giving a kind reply to the old man. 

“Why!” Grandfather Smith beamed, “Link, you’ve never had more than one friend before. Why haven’t I met these boys sooner?”

Four flushed in embarrassment when he heard Legend chuckle. Hypocrite, he thought, since he knows for a fact Legend’s only friends are his sister and Ravio.

“There wasn’t... time,” he answered, “but we’re here now! Do you need help with anything?”

“Nonsense,” the old man huffed, “I am not making you or your friends work. It’s time to do what guardians are meant to do for their children.”

Four already knew what was coming, “please, no.”

Grandfather Smith smiled mischievously, “why don’t you boys indulge me as I share some photos of my grandchild!”

“No!” Four could’ve died right there as all the Links cheered. 

“Oh, absolutely!” Legend smirked, “I need to know if he was always this short or if he actually grew.”

As much as Four protested, his grandfather got up and pulled some photos out from a drawer. They were all old and fading, minus a few, but the subjects were easy to see. 

One of them was of a baby in the arms of knight and a women in common dress. They were smiling like the baby was their greatest joy in the world. 

“Link’s father, Sir Leon of the Royal Guard,” Grandfather Smith explained, “and my daughter, Link’s mother, Kris Smith. Leon died in the line of duty to... I can’t remember. And my Kris, she died to disease.”

“We’re sorry for both of your losses,” Time put a hand on the old man’s shoulder. 

The grandfather shook his head, “we’ve moved on! Right, Link?”

Four smiled, “I know I am making them proud. A knight like my father and a smith like my mother.”

Grandfather Smith nodded, “I know they are watching out for us.”

He moved another photograph on top of the one of Four’s parents. This photo showed four identical looking boys, though with four different color schemes. The red one was on the shoulders of the blue one, both smiling. The green one held his sword digging into the ground with a hand on his hip. The purple one carried a book in his hands and was staring at his shadow. 

Something was also off with the purple one’s shadow. It had a spot in the head that looked like a smile. The outline was also much more sharp than a normal shadow. 

Weird.

“Grandfather!” Four shouted, “not this one, please!”

He was waved off, “this was taken right before you left last, right? I miss these boys, though I know they were you. What ever happened to your shadowy friend?”

A dark chuckle filled the room that only Four could hear. 

“He never left,” he then begged, “please, they don’t know about them.”

“Alright, son,” he sighed. 

“Wait!” Wind frowned, “who are they? Are they you’re brothers? What shadow friend?”

“Nothing!” Four snapped, “they’re gone and that’s all you need to know.”

Moving onto the next photo, Four was a child. One could tell by his babyish face and the fact that he was sucking his thumb. He strangely looked like Wind when he was younger. 

He was wearing his green clothes already when he was toddler. So, some of the Links thought it was just pajamas. He was snuggled underneath his blankets in his bed and he was cuddling with his hat, which had a strange end to it. 

“That,” Sky said slowly, “is the cutest thing I have ever seen.”

And the dam broke and all the Links cooed over the adorable baby Four who used his hat as a doll. 

“What’s with it looking like a weird bird?” Wild asked, “it’s the same shape you have now, but bigger.”

“That’s not a hat,” Four took the photo and stared at it kindly, “that’s Ezlo, he was cursed to take this form and he asked for my help. He impacted my life a lot, so I like to honor him.”

“And you slept with him like he was your childhood pet?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. 

Four groaned, “give me a break! I was only four.”

“What?” Warriors interrupted, “what did he need your help for?”

Four shrugged, “to stop the Wind Mage: Vaati. Only children could see him and other creatures properly, and I just happen to meet him a-“

“Hold up!” Warriors growled, “you became a Hero at, at the age of...”

Four glared, “what’s the problem?”

“That’s too young!” Warriors complained. 

Four shouted back, “I was the only one who could help. I am called the Hero of Four for a reason!”

“I thought that was for something else,” Wind said. 

“You shouldn’t have had to fight,” Warriors barked, “the reason I do what I do is to make sure children aren’t on the battle field!”

He took a sharp breath, “but it seems I always fail at that.”

He glanced at Time, at Wind, and finally to Four. Without another word he left the house.

All the Links stared at the door that slammed shut. The old man sighed. 

“I’m sorry, Link,” Grandfather Smith apologized, “I just wanted to reminisce. It’s the only way I can remember anything.”

“It’s not your fault, Grandfather,” Four shook his head. 

“Still...” He put on a fierce glare, “take these photos, please. Remind you of home and where you came from. And how you grew up fast into a wonderful man.”

Four took the stack of photos, “thank you. I’ll be back, but we should find Warriors.”

They ended up finding him next to a glowing portal, which he was staring at with a urge that was begging to jump through. It would only take him to the Palace of Winds, though, and he would quickly have had to return. 

“Warriors,” Four and the other Links walked up to him, “I’m sorry, but in the early days of Hyrule, children were practically adults as long as they could fight for themselves. As the son of a smith, I learned how to fight and-“

“It’s still not right,” he barley looked up, “I’m sure Time agrees. 

Time nodded, “while I didn’t start as early, I know what it’s like for your childhood to be ripped away. It is a curse that I would wish upon no one else.”

There was silence. 

Slowly, Four admitted, “the Hero of Men. That was a strange thing to name a child.”

More silence. Four was almost begging to split apart on the inside. Until, someone else said something. 

“I was 16,” Twilight spoke, “but that was still a child in the eyes of my county.”

“16 as well,” Sky added, “that was the age we could be knights.”

“I started when I was 12,” it was Hyrule. Wind nodded along.

“I was nine,” Time admitted, “but that is debatable.”

“8,” Legend said softly, “I wasn’t even supposed to have left the house. I was looking for my uncle...”

“How!” Warriors cried, “why so young?! I was a page when I was seven, but nowhere near actual fighting. I was 18, an adult who already sighed up to be in the army. Why did the Goddesses choose children?!”

Then, Goddesses forbid, Wild spoke. 

“I pulled the sword when I was 12,” he said slowly, “but, I was being trained as the Hero when I was 1 and a half, from what I was told.”

Warriors bit his cheek, “what?!”

Wild shrugged, “I don’t know all of the details. Just that a prophet said I was the Hero, and as soon as I could walk I was being trained. I could take down a squadron at age four and an army at six.”

“That,” Twilight growled, “that is so wrong, on so many levels.”

Four, record beaten of being the youngest Link, was now the one to get angry, “could you even hold a sword then?”

“I was taught dexterity and agility for the first few months,” Wild answered, “apparently I never learned to talk because that was age that children learn. That’s why I was silent for most of my life.”

Warriors looked like he himself could take on an army, “who ordered that!”

Wild frowned, “probably the King, or the prophet, I’ve heard rumors that they were a person in high standings.”

“If I ever meet your King I am sending his to the Twilight Realm!” Warriors declared. Twilight looked like he wanted to protest, but he couldn’t argue with the intended point. 

“He’s already dead,” Wild smiled morbidly, “payed for all his mistakes in the ultimate way.”

“Why are you so nonchalant about this?” Four asked, “I admit, it’s weird that I was a child, but only a child could do what I did. You, you didn’t even need to fight anyone until your were 17!”

“I trained,” Wild looked down, “for nearly 16 years and I still failed. Clearly, I should’ve started training as soon as I was born.”

“No!” Warriors waved his hand, “that is clearly not your fault. No one can live that way and still be sane by the end of it!”

Wild smiled, well, wildly, “I’m pretty sure I am not sane. Besides, I don’t remember it, so what’s the harm?”

Warriors slammed his head into a tree, “why do none of you get it?!” 

“Warriors,” Four looked at him, “you had the unique situation of signing up for this voluntarily-“

“I actually signed up for this, too!” Wind cried in the background. 

“We’ll talk about that later,” Four replied, “but the point is, this is our lives. We lost our innocence so that others didn’t have to.”

“Was it worth it?” He asked. 

Four paused, “sometimes yes, sometimes no. I helped many people and saved their lives when no one else stepped up. I also met people that will be apart of me forever, but...

“I also lost people, I lost time. I spent most of my life helping others that I honestly don’t know what to do with my life! For the most part, my Hyrule is peaceful, but I can’t live without fighting now. It’s all I’ve known.

“Wild,” Four looked him, “you want to be a baker?”

“Uh,” Wild looked shocked at the question, “yes?”

“Time,” he pointed to Time, “you work on a ranch. Twilight, same to you. You, Sky, you’re founding Hyrule. Legend and Hyrule, you are adventuring still. Wind, you are founding New Hyrule. Warriors...

“You are a commanding officer in the army,” Four saluted, “you have all found your ways in life after fighting. But, now my fight is finding my own path. It doesn’t matter anymore the age or time lost, but what we do afterwords.

“So, regardless of when I started, I am seventeen now. An adult in the eyes of Hyrule. I am an official knight of Hyrule and I am an one my way to finding what I want in life. I think...”

He stared at the sword of Sky’s back, “I think I’ll prepare for future generations. Give you a boost for when you all become Heroes, so you can have a little more time yourselves. 

“There’s a certain sword in a sanctuary that I think could be a little sharper.”

Silence for a third time. 

“That is the most you have ever talked at once,” Legend pointed out. 

Four shrugged, “so, what do you say, Warriors?”

Warriors stood up straight, “it’s still wrong, but I understand why you had to do it. And when I meet the Goddesses when I move on, I will have words with Farore.”

Four chuckled, “you just haven’t ever fought a god and you want to know what it’s like.”

“I’ve fought a false god if that counts,” Warriors joked. 

Slowly, the usual happy energy returned to the group. After a while, Four asked something from Wild, the same request he had heard so long ago. 

Four stared at the photos in his hands, that was joined with a newer one of the nine heroes. He smiled fondly of it, looking between it and the photo of Red, Green, Blue, and Vio. 

“I hope one day you guys can meet them,” Four thought, “you would get along.”

He pulled out another photo, this one of just a shadow on the wall. It looked like a mistake to the common eye, but to him it was his best friend. 

“One day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my first live write in the discord and it was so much fun! Everyone who replied and commented were so nice, so I hope yall like it to.


	8. It’s a Secret to Everybody

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time was raised in a forest, Wild can barely function, and Legend’s and idiot.

They were back at Malon’s. Wild and Time were preparing food, Wind and Sky were messing with the cuccos, Legend and Warriors were staring at them in horror, Four and Twilight were with the horses, and Hyrule had nothing to do. 

Overall, a very normal day at Lon Lon Ranch. 

Malon, meanwhile, was writing on some papers as Hyrule watched her. 

“What are you doing?” He asked. 

She sighed with a forced smiled, “taxes.”

“What are those?”

Malon look at him with disbelief, “have you never payed taxes before?”

“What do you pay them for?” 

“Mostly for stuff you buy and the house you live in.”

“Malon, I live in a cave.”

“Oh,” she laughed at how dead Hyrule talked about his living situation. The worst part was that she couldn’t tell if he was joking. 

“But why do you pay them?”

“It’s for the government to be able to pay for things, like roads and Link’s salary,” she explained, “but, you know what this reminds me of?”

Behind her, Time sighed, “not this again!”

“Hush!” She smiled, “you see, when I was first taking over the ranch and doing the paperwork, Link came home from his service with the knights one day and asked me what I was doing. It turns out he had no idea that we had to pay the government.”

“In my defense,” Time walked over, “I am exempt from paying them, but no one ever told me that. So, I had no idea that I was supposed to be doing them if I wasn’t passed over.”

“But that’s not the best part!” Malon cried, “because that conversation took a couple of turns and I fount out-“

“Stop.”

“-that Link-“

“Darling...”

“Can’t read!” 

And then Malon was taken over by a fit of laughter. The very idea that the Hero of Time, her Hero, couldn’t read would never not be funny to her. 

Meanwhile, Wild paused in cutting his vegetables mid-chop and listened in.

“It’s really not that funny,” Time rubbed his forehead. 

“On the contrary, fairy boy!” Malon slapped him on the back, “the look on your face when you told me looked like my father when he saw a cucco!”

At that moment, Legend and Warriors walked back in. They were covered in feathers and scratch marks. Clearly they had angered Sky. 

“Wind and Sky are playing with the hell-spawns,” Legend growled and then saw Malon dying of laughter, “what’s so funny?”

“Time can’t read,” Hyrule explained. He didn’t care that much. He was shocked, sure, but that’s only because even he knew how to read basic sentences. His Hyrule didn’t even have books!

“What?” Legend was not expecting that, “seriously?”

“He’s joking right?” Warriors raised an eyebrow, “you don’t know how to read?”

Time gestured to the sky, “I grew up in the middle of the woods and I was raised by immortal children, do you think I went to school?!”

“But,” Warriors stuttered, “you never learned after that? In my Hyrule, every knight must know how to read.”

“I’m a special case,” Time pointed out, “beside, I don’t think her Majesty realizes how much I didn’t know of this world when we met. No one explained this stuff until Malon.”

“But it’s reading!” Warriors protested. 

Time shrugged, “I haven’t had to read once.”

“That’s because I or someone else reads for you!” Malon pointed out, “it ain’t like I didn’t try to teach him. He was stubborn and said that his line of work didn’t require him to read.”

Again, the door opened, and in walked the final four Links. Wind and Sky were also covered in feathers, but not scratches. Four and Twilight were covered in sweat and sat down at the table. 

“What are y’all talking about?” Twilight asked. 

“Time can’t read,” Hyrule repeated. 

“Let everyone know, Hyrule,” Time said sarcastically, “I don’t think you told Ganon yet.”

“You!” Four pointed at him, “the Hero of Time, the only full grown adult in the group, can’t read.”

“Born. In. A. Forest,” he glared, “raised. By. Children.”

“Who else here doesn’t know how to read!?” Four raised his hands into the air. 

At first, no one raised their hand, but then Wild slowly put down his knife and raised his. Twilight looked at his ward and shook his head. 

“Cub,” he gave a small laugh, “how?”

“Ironically,” Wild answered, picking up the knife and waving it around, “you guys are the ones to forget that I have amnesia.”

“Amnesia doesn’t usually affect reading,” Four scrutinized. 

“Head injuries do,” Wild replied, “and I just never had time to relearn.”

“You carry like six diaries on you at all times,” Twilight pointed out, “but you can’t read them.”

“Yes.”

“Why?!” Twilight asked, “how do you know what’s in them?”

Wild’s face burned red, “I had someone read them to me.”

“Oh,” Legend smiled, “he’s thinking about her diary! That must’ve been fun if your Zelda was the one reading it.”

“Shut up!” Wild shouted, “it wasn’t Zelda, it was... prncsdn.”

“What was that?”

“Prince Sidon read it to me!” Wild said quietly, “not that it matters. 

Four spoke before Legend could think of a retort, “okay, I can understand you. But, I don’t think all of you are being truthful.”

He walked over to Malon, who had regained her composure, and gestured to some of her paper. 

“May I?” He asked politely. 

“Please,” she smiled, “this has been the biggest laugh I’ve had in a while.”

With a small thank you, Four grabbed some paper and a quill. He quickly jotted some words before holding it before everyone. 

“What does this say?”

“Uh,” Legend put his hands on his hips, “we all have different languages.”

“Spoken!” Four argued, “for the most part, our written language has stayed the same. Beside, I’m not asking for a perfect reading, just one word.”

He moved it in front of Sky, “what does this say?”

Sky whispered it into Four’s ear and he nodded. 

“Thank goodness, Sky,” he sighed as did the same to Warriors, “I was about to loose faith in this whole group.”

As he went along the line of Links, all was revealed. Sky, Warriors, and Four could read perfectly. Wind, Hyrule, and Twilight struggled.

“Small community with no schooling,” Twilight explained, “I’m only learning because I’ve been offered to be the next mayor with Bo retires.”

“I only learned how so I could read Aryll stories,” Wind beamed, “and Tetra is forcing me to learn more so, quote, ‘that New Hyrule doesn’t have idiot for a King’.”

“I live in a cave,” Hyrule waved away questions about how he learned in the first place.

“Now,” Four looked to the last Link, Legend, “what does this say. You can say it aloud now that everyone knows what it says.”

“This is stupid!” Legend protested, “I can read and I don’t have to prove it to you. I knew what was in one of Wild’s diaries!”

“Legend,” Warriors jabbed him, “I read that diary first and then told you. That’s not proof.”

“If you can read,” Four said, “then what does this say?”

Legend snatched the paper from Four’s hands and glared at it. The letters danced around, mocking him. Eventually he crumbled it up and threw it into the nearby fire. 

“I can’t read,” Legend crossed his arms, “so what.”

Four gaped like a fish, “but you’ve been on so many adventures!”

“Yeah, I’ve been to five different countries, do you think I could keep that many languages straight?”

“You’re sister is the Queen!”

“Believe me,” Legend smirked, “she hates it. But I was stolen away until I was eight, and then I had adventures until now. There was no time for her force me through schooling. Lucky me.”

“I,” Four stuttered, “I hate you all.”

“Aw,” Legend cooed, “that’s not nice.”

Four growled, “that’s it! Warriors you take the knights and the idiot, I’m taking the country bumpkins. We’re teaching you all how to read properly!”

“I can bring out my old children books,” Malon suggested, half joking, half serious. 

“Please.”

“Wait, did you call me an idiot? That’s royalty your talking to.”

“Not my time, not my monarchy!” Four yelled. 

“Do I count as a country bumpkin?” Hyrule asked. 

“You live in a cave, that’s the country.”

“What do I do?” Sky raised a hand. 

“You’ll be helping with dinner since Wild can’t read.”

“I can finally make you guys pumpkin soup!”

“This is cruel, Four,” Wind whined, “forcing us to learn and now no food of Wild’s.”

“Shut up before I make you eat a book.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I stand by these headcannons. Also, the paper said:
> 
> It’s a secret to everybody!


	9. Downfall

The sky was red, and Wild almost thought they were back in his time. The calls of monsters screeched into the night sky and the moon was being blocked by the trees. It had all the signs of being a Blood Moon. 

“Where-slash-when are we?” Legend asked, “anyone grow up in the apocalypse?”

He sighed as he noticed Wild, Hyrule, and Wind all raise their hands. It was a hyperbole for Hylia’s sake!

“This is my Hyrule,” Time answered with a grunt, “as to when, I have an estimate, but not a place in time.”

“What does that mean?” Sky stretched over to Twilight. 

Twilight shrugged, “some cryptic nonsense. Could mean anything from this time shouldn’t exist, or he forgot.”

“Or he’s messing with us on purpose,” Wild whispered, quieting down when Time glared at him. 

“There’s two possibilities of where in time we are, and neither are good,” Time answered.

“That still makes no sense,” Wind pouted. 

“Just tread lightly, this is a very dangerous time, and it’s best if we get out of here as soon as possible. Right now, we are on the edge of the Lost Woods. Follow me.”

Without having much else to do, the group listened and followed Time as he took random paths through the trees. The Lost Woods were a fun place to traverse. 

After a while, Time’s ears flicked, hearing a very faint sound. He immediately pulled out his sword and looked up at the branches. 

“What’s going on, Old Man?” Warriors groaned. 

“Quiet!” He hushed. 

Suddenly, three blades shot out from the tree line, just barely missing Warriors and lodging into the bark behind him.

Time looked at the blades, recognizing them. He pulled one out and pocketed it. 

“He’s here,” he said in a low voice. 

“Who?” Four asked. 

WHIZZ! Three more blades flew into Four, pinning his hood to a tree. Another trio attacked Wind, latching onto his tunic flaps. 

Time growled, “Sheik! I know you are there, come out!”

“Sheik?” Warriors himself looked at the knives, noting their familiarity, “how do you know-“

Warriors was interrupted by an almost silent thud. In front of them, and blocking their path, was a man cloaked in dark clothes and who’s face was covered by a scarf. Only a singular red eye could be seen between his baggy blond hair.

“Who are you?” Sheik growled, preparing to attack once more, “this forest is under the protection of the Sheikah!”

Time almost wanted to laugh, of course he wouldn’t recognize him. He almost didn’t pick up on the tell-tale signs of the ninja until it was too late. Maybe he was getting slow with his age. 

Warriors, instead, did laugh, “you’re not Sheik. My Sheik would’ve never been caught like that. Maybe don’t dress like a Sheikah if you can’t be one.”

Warriors, Time sighed internally, you are going to die. 

Sheik seemed to take that as a challenge. With a glint in his eye, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, curtsy of a deku seed. Warriors, without having anytime to react, found himself lying on the ground, a knife pressed to his throat. The rest of the Links stood at the ready, wary about scaring the person holding their friend’s life in his hands.

“Maybe don’t dress like a knight if you can’t be one,” Sheik spat in his face before turning to the group, “if any of you come any closer, your friend may soon join his arrogant ancestors!”

“Warriors!” Wind cried in alarm. 

“It’s alright,” Warriors grinned at the masked figure, “I’ve been in tougher jams.”

Time approached slowly, taking note of a new knife pointing in his direction. He never did learn how Sheik held so many weapons on him. 

“Sheik,” Time said in a soft voice, one that no one had heard him use before, “it’s me, Link.” 

Immediately, some sort of recognition flickered through Sheik’s eye, which widened drastically. He looked him up and down, taking note of the blond hair and Ocarina of Time at his hips. Eventually, though, he shook his head. 

“Nice try!” He huffed, “but then where’s the Master Sword?”

“Right here,” Time gestured to Sky, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, “but it’s a long story.”

“Then!” Sheik refused to believe, “why are you this old? The Hero should be in his teens!”

Time pointed to the Ocarina, “time travel, as you well know.”

“B-but,” Sheik stepped away from Warriors, clinging to his scarf, “but the Hero should- he should be in the Sacred Realm.”

“Sheik,” Time said calmly, “how long has it been?”

“S-seven years,” he nearly cried, “nearly eight.”

Then, something in the ninja broke. Sheik fell to his knees and started to sob. Wind ran to Warriors and made sure he was alright, and the others stared at the stranger with concern.

“The Hero of Time is dead!” Sheik confessed to the confusion of most of the group, “why are you here? Is it not enough, Ganondorf, that you took my family, my life? Now, are you making me mad?”

Everyone flinched at the name of their mortal enemy. Time crouched in front of his old companion and spoke. 

“I am here,” he smiled, “after all, I know something that the Thief King doesn’t”

Silently, Time started to blow into his instrument. A song most of the group recognized, but some could not place, played. The song seemed to have meaning to Sheik, as he stopped crying to listen. 

“H-how?” He asked, “no one knows, but Impa, and she’s...”

“How did the Hero of Time die?” Time asked. 

With a shaky breath, Sheik replied, “after he entered the Temple of Time, as instructed, Ganondorf ambushed and killed him. We didn’t learn of his defeat until one year ago, when Impa was slain.”

“In my time,” Time responded, “we succeeded. You helped me, revealing yourself when we fought Ganondorf.”

“We succeeded?” He asked in wonder, “you lived?”

“Yes.”

“My biggest regret,” Sheik gently touched the Ocarina, “is that I forced the weight of the world onto a child. And that child was crushed.”

He looked him in the eyes and hugged him, “I’m so happy you’re alive.”

There was quiet as the two embraced each other. Everyone else, on the other hand, were confused about what was going on. 

“Do you know what’s happening?” Legend leaned over to Warriors, “I mean, after you got your butt kicked.”

Ignoring the last bit, Warriors answered, “I think this is the timeline where the Hero of Time died and that’s the last remaining force of rebellion to Ganondorf’s rule. We are now in your timeline.”

“My timeline?” Legend frowned in disgust, “this, this is where it happened?” 

For the first time, Legend was silenced by the connotations of what he witnessed. This was the beginning of Ganon’s rule, the only reason he even existed. 

“What can I do now?” Sheik mumbled to Time, “all the sages have fallen, the Kokiri are in shambles and the Zora have scattered. I am the last fighter, and even then I’m not able to do much.”

“There’s still hope,” Time scowled a little, “if I know one thing about the gods, they refuse to let Hyrule die. Let me introduce you to someone.”

Legend slowly backed away as Time guided Sheik over to him. Sheik looked way less threatening when his eye was red from crying and not from the color. 

“This is the Hero of Legend,” Time introduced, “in how many years, he, along with Princess Zelda, will be the one to bring down Ganon’s rule.”

“Nice to meet you?” Legend raised an eyebrow. What was he supposed to do?

Sheik looked him over, “you saved Hyrule? I am sorry my burden fell onto you.”

“It’s no problem,” he lied, “I was born to be a hero.”

Sheik shook his head, “Princess Zelda you say? So, the Royal Family lives on.”

“If only we knew where this time’s Princess Zelda was,” Time hinted. 

“Were you always this sarcastic,” Sheik bit. 

“Honestly?” Time smiled, “yes.”

Sheik smiled softly, “I guess my plan is set. I am fleeing with rest of the survivors to the farthest reaches of the country. One day, we will take back the kingdom.”

Sheik wiped away his tears before remembering something. 

“So,” Sheik turned to the rest of the group, “who are these. And why is that squire holding the Blade of Evil’s Bane?”

“I’m a knight!” Sky protested. 

“These are all reincarnations of the Hero,” Time explained, “that is the Hero of Sky, he founded Hyrule with the very first Zelda.”

“Oh,” Sheik’s eyes widened and he bowed, “my lord, it is an honor to meet you.”

“Uh,” Sky blushed red, “please don’t do that. You’re a Sheikah right? I met one before and she acted like you did.”

“Impa’s ancestor,” Sheik nodded, “the one who guided Hylia reborn.”

“And the one you nearly killed is the Hero of Warriors.”

“Next time learn when you are out of your league,” Sheik snapped at the captain. 

“I just happen to also know a Sheik,” Warriors waved his hand, “but I wonder if *she* shares the same secret as you.”

With a glare back, Time introduced Sheik to the rest of the group. Sheik complemented Twilight as a good descendant of Time’s and told Wild to cut his hair. He recognized Four from the legends and said hello to Hyrule. When he met Wind, he bowed deeply and apologized for making him fight, just like he did to Legend. 

Once that was done, Sheik smiled at something. 

“Link,” he demanded, “there’s someone you have to meet before you go and before I flee. She has been waiting for you since you left to the Sacred Realm.”

Sheik pulled out his harp and played a few short notes. Quiet bells and a ringing filled the forest, as a soft blue light appeared in the trees. 

And, for the first time since he left the Sacred Realm, Time felt like he was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On a roll with these oneshots this week. Live writing is awesome!


	10. How Legends are Born

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Legend’s ancestors have always been alluded to, but who are they?

Legend took pride in many things: his ability to run through a dungeon in ten minutes, the size of his arsenal, or his experience. He knew many languages, with the help of a book that he found, and was the equivalent of an ambassador with how many times he saved foreign countries. But, the thing he prided himself most on was the fact that he was not the Hero of Time. 

For the majority of his life, he had heard the stories of the Fallen Hero, the Last Hero, the Dead Hero, or, just simply, the failure. In his time, the name was cursed and spat on so much that the original title didn’t remain. No one wanted to honor the person who failed to save the kingdom. 

As a child, he heard ghost stories and fables from neighboring adults. He shouldn’t act like an adult when he was a child, because that was what the Hero did. He shouldn’t play in the woods, that’s where the Hero’s from. He shouldn’t wear green, those are the clothes of someone who was weak. 

His uncle on the other hand, tried his hardest to change his mind about the Hero. He said that him failing wasn’t the Hero’s fault, and there was no reason to hate him. He tried his best, especially at a young age. 

So, his uncle taught him all the things adults knew. He took them on hikes through the woods. He made Legend wear a green tunic and matching cap. 

Legend didn’t listen. He acted his age as a teenager, stayed near towns, and red was way more his color. He rose from the ashes of the fire that the Hero started. Why should he care about the man who caused him, and his kingdom, so much pain?

So, he prided himself on succeeding where the Hero of Time didn’t.

One thing he didn’t expect was meeting him. Ironically, he was a little bit in awe of *the legend* that was Time. Everything he thought he would be like was the opposite. 

“My name is Link.”

He was modest, not even using his title to introduce himself. He was a common rancher instead of living it up in a castle. Legend chalked it up to this being the time he managed to not die, so he reserved the right to hate on the other version of him. 

Then, after meeting him and stewing in his hate, it came as a shock when he read his uncle’s diary. He could have never imagined what lay in the text. 

He was cleaning out his house when he found it again after so many years. Back on that stormy night, his uncle handed him a sword, a shield, and a book. He never had time to read it, so he put it away, not having the heart to. Now... well, it couldn’t hurt. 

While the others were outside, looking around his Hyrule, he sat down and read.

“Dear Link, if you are reading this, I am dead.”

Legend snorted. 

“Or something has happened to me. I have something to tell you, a secret that has been passed down since my grandmother’s grandmother’s mother. The Order of Knights that were our ancestors weren’t our only relations.”

He sat up. He knew of the knights, those were easy to trace his lineage back to, but what else was there in his family tree. 

“There have been many rumors about our family. Some say we are a bastard clan of the Royal Family, I’ve even heard some say you are her Highness’ brother.”

Legend cackled. Him? Zelda’s brother? She would have murdered him if they were related from sheer annoyance.

“This is not true by any means, but we do have some significant blood running through us. Going back to before the dark times, we are the descendants of-“

“Hey, Legend,” Hyrule walked in, “are these berries poisonous, cause Wild ate a whole handful and...”

THUD. 

“Legend?!” Hyrule rushed over to see the hero standing over the book he dropped. Eyes staring blankly into the wall and hand gripping his tunic. “Are you alright?”

“I-I’m,” he swayed to the whims of Hyrule shaking him. 

When he didn’t respond, Hyrule picked up the book and read the page he was on. After a second, Hyrule realized what was wrong. 

“You’re related to...” Hyrule narrowed his eyes, “how? How is that possible?!”

Legend didn’t respond.

“Does anyone else know?” Hyrule tried to get any coherence out of his friend. 

Legend growled, “Sahasrahla, that... he had to have known. I am going to kill that old man!”

“No one else?”

“Maybe Zelda, she called upon both me and my uncle based off our bloodline.”

Silence. 

“You have to tell him,” Hyrule declared. 

“No!”

“You have to tell Time that you are his descendant!” Hyrule shouted. 

BANG! The door slammed open.

“What?!” Twilight growled after running in the door. Presumably, he was there about the berries, as he was holding a jar of them. Wild must’ve had a lot and had some consequences. 

“Out!” Legend pointed to the door, a glare on his face. 

“No,” Twilight walked in farther, closing the door behind him, “what’s this about you be related to Time.”

“None of your business!”

“I think it is.”

The two had a staring contest while Hyrule was losing his mind. 

“How had you not known before, how had we not known?” He asked, “Malon was being suspicious when we met her, she kept watching us. I think she knew one of us was her great grandchild or something. But how?”

Twilight’s ears flicked. 

“What does it even matter,” Legend spoke, “let’s just forget about this and never talk about it again!”

“This is important,” Twilight wouldn’t back down, “I know how you feel about Time, about your version of him. Now you’re related to him? You aren’t going to see him the same after this.”

“You know what?” Legend smirked, “you bring up a good point. My version of Time, the Fallen Hero. He’s exactly that, the Fallen Hero, he died! How could he have had a kid, no less descendants? This could all be a farce!”

“Unless,” Hyrule popped in, “the Fallen Hero lived at least until 18 before finally dying in the battle with Ganon. There’s a window that he could have...”

He shut up when Legend pointed his sword at him. 

“Sorry...”

Legend sighed, “let’s just ignore this.”

Twilight huffed, “I thought you prided yourself on not being Time?”

That did it. Without thinking, Legend pulled out one of his million fire rods and launched an attack at the Hero of Twilight. 

“I am not him!” He screamed in rage, “I have done what he could not, multiple times even. I could never be related to such a failure!”

“And yet you are!” Twilight pulled out his gale boomerang and used the winds to blow out the fire. “Why does that scare you? You’ve met Time, he’s a great person.”

“Guys!” Hyrule was hiding behind his shield, hoping that there wouldn’t be too much carnage. He hugged the diary, making sure it didn’t get burned. “Stop fighting!”

“Why do you care!?” Legend snarled, “you’ve always had a soft spot for him, wouldn’t hear a word against him. Is there a reason for that? What? Are you also related to him?”

Twilight paused and the wind and fire finally dispersed. Realization dawned on Legend. 

“You have got to be kidding me,” He said dully. “I should have seen this from the start. The Hero of Time’s golden boy and protege, he trains you to be a better him. This is just precious!”

Then, Twilight laughed. 

“Oh,” Twilight smiled, “I know what this is about. You’re jealous!”

“Jealous, please. I am not Warriors.”

Twilight shrugged, “sure. But you, you are jealous that maybe the Hero of Time actually survived in one lifetime and he lived a happy life.”

“I have nothing against Time-“

“Not him,” Twilight interrupted, “you hate the very idea of the Hero of Time, and you are jealous of the nice life he had.

“He had a relatively happy childhood. Grew up, got a wife, had kids. Meanwhile, you have done nothing but fight since you were a kid, and you haven’t stopped. You have suffered thanks to Time’s supposed failure, so why should he be happy and not you!”

“Twilight,” Hyrule whined, “that’s not fair.”

“I’m right,” Twilight crossed his arms, “aren’t I?”

No response from Legend, he had shut down again. 

“Now,” Twilight set down the jar of berries he had somehow held onto this whole time, “I need to make sure Wild is alive.”

He turned to the door and spoke as he left, “don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. See you in a bit, cousin.”

As the door creaked closed, Legend fell on his knees and started to cry. Hyrule rushed over and tried to comfort him, but he didn’t know what to do. 

“Legend,” he whispered, “it’s alright! Twilight was just mad, you know how close he is to Time, he didn’t mean any of it.”

“It’s true, though,” he sadly admitted, “I don’t like the idea of the Hero of Time being happy.”

Hyrule stuttered, “w-what.”

“Did you think I liked being forced into this life?” Legend cried, “being dragged into fighting an indescribable terror because the previous hero died. I have fought Ganon four times, I didn’t want this!”

He stared at the book in Hyrule’s hands. 

“And then, I learned that my time, *our* timeline, was nothing but a cosmic mistake! I didn’t want to believe it, but my whole existence is nothing but a dying thought in a sick world.”

He dug his nails into his legs, “why does Time live in another timeline? Why does he have the, the *audacity* to be happy when I am not! I hate him! I hate the Hero of Time! I would rather that he was dead!”

“Legend!” Hyrule gasped, “that’s not true! Time has been nothing but nice to us, and Malon, and-“

“I don’t care,” Legend smiled bitterly, “it feels good to admit it out loud. You wouldn’t understand, though, you are farther away from him.”

Hyrule stared at him in disbelief, “I wouldn’t understand? *I* wouldn’t understand?! Legend, remember who I had to fight, what the state of my Hyrule is in!”

Legend realized his mistake too late. Hyrule was angry now. 

“I fought Ganon, too!” He frowned, “and my kingdom doesn’t even have any proper cities! Why is that? If you fought Ganon, four times, why is he still around?”

“That’s not my fault!” Legend spat, “Ganon can be resurrected!”

“Then how is it Time’s fault that you had to fight Ganon?”

“He could’ve killed him when he was a man, ending the cycle!”

“You don’t know that,” Hyrule retorted, “if you blame Time, then I can blame you. But, I don’t...”

Legend narrowed his eyes. 

“If we blamed everyone before us for not stopping all the evil in the world,” Hyrule continued, “we would be very bitter people. Do you blame Four?”

“No, he didn’t really fight Ganon-“

“But he still did. Do you blame Sky?”

“Hylia-“

“Hylia nothing! Do you blame Sky? He was the first one to get cursed, starting the cycle.”

“He was fighting a god, he couldn’t have destroyed him.”

“And Ganon was the reincarnation of that god’s hate. Do you see what I mean?”

Legend said nothing.

“If you blame Time, then you have to blame every single person that came before you. If you blame Time, you will be a hypocrite and I deem you responsible for the state of my kingdom!”

Legend sighed, “alright. I get it.”

Hyrule choked on spit, ready to continue his tangent, but stopped in his tracks. 

“Really?” He smiled hopefully. 

“Yeah,” Legend bit his tongue, “I have been taught all my life that Hyrule was in shambles because of one man. Maybe we’ve been blaming the kindling for the fire and not the arsonist. Still...”

He sat on his bed, putting his hands into his face, “I can’t forgive him. A sick, dark part of me wants him to suffer as much as I have. I almost want to see the arsonist come back.”

He fell onto his back, “I never should have been born. At least then I wouldn’t have to deal with this!”

Hyrule sat next to him, “don’t say that. Because of you, many people are alive today that weren’t. You might’ve inadvertently saved an ancestor of mine and allowed me to live!”

“Anyone could have done that,” Legend argued. 

“And anyone could have failed,” Hyrule pointed out, “infinite timeline, infinite possibilities. I think it’s good to admit this, now you can move on.”

“I don’t know if I can!” Legend groaned, “every time I look at Time I want to punch him!”

“It’ll be slow,” Hyrule nodded, “but you know in your head that he isn’t to blame. You just need to change your heart. And, I think to do that, you need to...”

“No!”

“Please! You know Twilight’s already told Wild, and Time will immediately know something is off with them and find out.”

“...”

“Legend?”

“Fine. Uncle, what have you gotten me into?”

So, Legend prided himself on many things. Being jealous, vengeful, and full of spite was not one of them. 

Later that night, as Twilight glared at him, with Hyrule at his side, he handed Time the book. Time flipped to the bookmarked page and read, showing no emotion as he did. Silently, Time returned the book before speaking. 

“It is an honor to have you in the family,” he smiled, “I’m sure Malon will be excited to learn about this.”

And, against his heart’s will, Legend was happy at the thought. 

“This changes nothing between us, Old Man,” Legend smirked, “you owe it to Hyrule for me even telling you this.”

“Hey!” Hyrule protested, “you didn’t have to tell him.”

Time laughed, “oh, I know, kit.”

“Kit?” Legend knitted his eyebrows, “oh, no! You can’t give me a nickname like you did Twilight!”

“Would you rather bunny rabbit?” 

How did he even know about that?! Ravio, you snitch!

Legend hid his smile, “kit it is then.”

With a pat on the back from Time and a smile from Hyrule, Legend sat down to have dinner with a smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved this story so much and it was really fun to write!
> 
> Fun fact, in ALttP, Sahasrahla says that Legend must have “the hero’s blood in [his] veins]” and he is descended from knights. Not to mention, Time just happened to die as an adult and not a kid in the downfall timeline.


	11. Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Siblings. Siblings. Siblings. Siblings. 
> 
> This is my sister. This is my brother. We are siblings and we care for each other.

If Legend didn’t stop chewing he was going to murder him. 

They were in Time’s Hyrule, a place he loathed to admit that he hated. It was too big and there was too many people everywhere one went. Even the smallest groups of buildings were bigger than Ordon easily, and even Ordon was too big for him. 

That’s why he liked Lon Lon Ranch. It was like his house: out of the way, near animals, and no people for miles. 

Sadly, they were in Kakariko, during the busiest part of the day. They were eating food, curtesy of Wild, and his surroundings were getting to him. He was going crazy. 

And Legend. Wouldn’t. Stop. Chewing.

“Yo,” Wild said after he finished his food, “you okay?”

“Yeah,” Twilight lied with a smile. 

The sun was too bright. There was so much wind. The heat from Death Mountain burned him. The smell of constant construction filled his head. 

He was always aware of every little thing that the others were doing. Time’s breathing was uneasy, putting him on edge. Warriors was talking too loud and he wanted to cover his ears. And Legend was still chewing. 

“Legend, for Hylia’s sake!” Twilight finally shouted, “close your mouth!” 

Legend stopped mid bite, “what?”

With a groan, Twilight covered his face and ears the best he could. He jumped when a hand touched his back. It was Four. 

“Woah!” Four backed up, “are you seriously okay?”

“Stop talking,” he begged. 

He thought he had gotten over this. When he first transformed into a wolf and then back, Twilight learned that his senses were heightened. He could smell, hear, see, feel, and taste everything to the extreme. He was constantly drowning in his surroundings. 

Midna liked to make fun of him for that at first. Saying how clearly better his wolf form was and how weak his human body was. She stopped when he literally collapsed from sensory overload. She also made sure to move him away from things she knew would make him upset. 

Over time, he got used to it, but ever since meeting the others... He changed into Wolfie a lot more, restarting his senses, and it was finally catching up to him.

“Pup,” Time spoke up softly, “what’s wrong.”

“I,” Twilight started, clutching his hands into his hair and curling into a smaller shape, “I can’t think! Everything is loud! Oh, no...”

They were switching. He had never noticed when they switched before, he wasn’t Hyrule, but now he could feel every second. It felt like his body was being torn apart, limb from limb, and he mind was filled with static. 

He couldn’t see. The world was blurred over and dull, yet it was too bright for him. He was in the fetal position on the ground, falling out of his now non-existent chair. He felt the grass and the individual weeds scratching him. Bugs buzzed and he could have sworn they were crawling over him. 

“Twilight!” Someone shouted. 

Shut up! He wanted to call back.

Where was he? If he knew, then he could escape into the woods are something. But, with all the worlds, who knew. Forbid it be Wind’s world. He couldn’t be stuck on an island with people and no escape. 

And now there were eight people surrounding him and wouldn’t leave. How could he tell them his plight? Midna was usually the one to do this, or...

“What are y’all doing!?” A new voice entered the fray. 

At first, he winced at the sudden noise, but then he was relieved. They were in his world. He knew that person, and they could help him. 

“What are you doing here?” Warriors asked. 

“None of your business, Pretty Boy!” The person shouted, “last I checked this was my world, so you best listen to me. Now, I don’t care who the rest of you are, get on out of here!”

“You can’t tell us what to do,” Legend huffed, “who are you?”

“L-l,” Twilight whimpered out. He could feel the group shuffle to look at him. 

“I’m here,” the voice said softly before going back to harsh, “y’all get on out of here before I shoot you!”

Somehow, that was nicer than how Midna used to communicate to others trying to help. Luckily, the group got the message. 

“We aren’t done here,” Warriors pointed. 

“Yeah, yeah,” the voice waved him off, “go crash his house or something. Epona will go crazy if she spends five more minutes with Ilia.”

And they were gone. Twilight’s stress lessoned by half with only one person now around him. His breathing slowed and he could see a little again. 

“I’m gonna move you, alright?” He weakly nodded in response, “gotta get you under a tree or something.”

The pain his mind felt when the person picked him up and bridal carried him to the shade was terrible. The rocking almost made him want to throw up. But, when he was sat down and leaned against a tree, he felt immensely better. 

The person sat down a little bit away from him and was silent. Twilight breathed in what he now knew was Faron Forest air and smiled. After a while, a couple minutes, he was back to normal and he opened his eyes. 

“Thanks, sis,” he smiled and looked over at the person. 

A girl about a year younger than him with bright blonde hair was smiling back at him. Her hair was braided with red ribbons and she had a pumpkin inspired pair of shorts on. Her green hood and cape were covered in branches and the compass on her chest glinted in the sunlight. 

“No problem, bro,” Linkle leaned her head to the side, “Midna ain’t here, so I’m making up lost time in her place.”

“Why are you here?” Twilight asked, “shouldn’t you be in Castletown, working with the resistance?”

“Eh,” she shrugged, “got a call from Fado, saying that you upped and left. He’s got no one to help with the goats now, y’know?”

Twilight groaned, “I didn’t mean to be gone for so long!”

“What were you even doing?” Linkle frowned in annoyance, “Ilia told me you just rode off into the distance and no one saw you after for weeks. Please don’t tell me you were being emo about Midna!”

He said nothing, giving Linkle her answer. 

“I met her, y’know,” Linkle sighed, “she said you should move on.”

“You managed to make it to the Twilight Realm,” Twilight pointed, “why couldn’t I?”

Linkle pouted, “go ask your friend Pretty Boy about it, he knows.”

“Warriors wouldn’t even look me in the eye when he talked about the Twilight Realm,” Twilight argued, “I doubt I could get any answers from him.”

“Warriors, huh?” Linkle muttered, “Pretty Boy fits better, I bet that the name Warriors goes to his head. Regardless, who’s the rest of the blond brigade. I recognize some of them, but I don’t know from where.”

“Those are different incarnations of the Hero’s Spirit,” Twilight answered, “after I left I ran into a portal and met them. Right now, we’re tracking down a shadow creature.”

“Shadow as in Twili or dark magic?”

“Dark.”

She crossed her arms, “how come I wasn’t invited to this?”

Twilight tossed his hands, “did you want to be cursed, too?”

“It would’ve been nice. I’m a hero, too!”

Twilight chuckled, “maybe next time, sis. I should probably go make sure the others don’t destroy my house.”

“Pretty Boy has already insulted all of your clothing, I guarantee.”

They walked back to Twilight’s house, telling each other what they were doing in the past weeks. 

Linkle took leave from rebuilding Castletown to help Ordon, since it was defenseless with Twilight gone. She talked about how much she hated the goats, saying that she couldn’t keep her cucco around because it was spooked by them. 

In turn, Twilight explained everyone to her. She already knew Warriors and briefly met Time and Wind, but the others she didn’t know about. He told her about his protege of Wild, how he helped her in a similar way she did Warriors. 

“Hylia help him!” She gasped in mock terror, “no way he lived with you watching him.”

He pushed her, “he would’ve died many times over if not for me.”

He gave a quick description of the others. He was finished when they finally reached his house. He could hear a commotion inside, probably the other Links. Time and Wild were waiting for them outside. 

“Twi!” Wild ran over, “are you okay? What happened?”

Twilight nodded, “I’ve never seen you so worked up about me, it’s alright.”

Time walked over, “does that happen often?”

“No...”

“Liar!” Linkle interrupted, “this happens whenever he turns into a wolf too much.”

Wild’s eyes widened. She knew?

“Linkle,” Twilight sighed, “I am trying to keep that a secret. You’re lucky these two know already.”

“You and secrets!” She shouted, “with how you are, I bet they don’t even know about me.”

“Um,” Twilight gulped. 

Linkle raised an eyebrow, “seriously? So they all think I’m some crazy lady who burst into their group and dragged your body into the woods?”

“Yes,” Wild answered bluntly. 

She glared at Twilight, “we’ll get back to this. Anyway, whenever he is a butt and transforms too much, he gets sensory overload. To fix this, have most people leave the area and get him in darkness and quiet. The forest also works.”

“That’s good to know,” Time said, “thank you. And it’s good to see you again, Linkle.”

“Aw,” she smiled, “you remembered me! Though, I am kinda shocked, since that would’ve been like thirty years for you since we met. I barely remember you from a couple months ago.”

“I have a good memory,” he replied. 

“Now,” Linkle clapped her hands, “introduce me to all your friends before everyone realizes you’re back.”

The group, once called out of his house, took the introduction of the his sister... well? It was hard to say. 

“You have a sister?” Wild and Wind said at the same time. Wind beamed, most likely thinking about Aryll, and Wild’s eyes went blank again. 

“Your brother was the Hero of Twilight and you didn’t tell me?” Warriors growled. 

“We hadn’t met then,” Linkle shut him up, “and did you really what Cia to find out?”

“You didn’t know each other until recently?” Four asked in confusion. 

“Our parents died after Linkle was born,” Twilight explained, “our grandmother couldn’t take care of us both, so she kept Linkle, as she was younger, and I was given away. Eventually, I was adopted by Rusl.”

“Then the nonsense with Pretty Boy happened,” Linkle continued, “portals opened up all over the country and I knew I had to help. Because I am also a hero!”

“She doesn’t mean like us,” Twilight added quickly. 

“So, I met Pretty Boy, or Warriors, ew, and some of y’all. Then, by the time I came back, the country was in another set of problems!”

“Which is what my adventure was,” Twilight interrupted, “while saving Hyrule, I met Linkle when she was working with a resistance. We connected the dots pretty quickly.”

“So,” Linkle smiled, “we’re siblings!”

Warriors spoke, “one question, how come Twilight was never apart of my war, but you were.”

Linkle smirked, “this idiot never left Ordon and never saw portals of Twili magic. Maybe that’s a good thing, would’ve caused some confusion down the line.”

“Well,” Sky said, “it’s nice to meet you.”

“Y’all, too,” she replied, “and y’all better have been protecting my bro. And you better say hi to everybody back in town.”

She said the last bit to Twilight. 

“I know, I know,” he nodded, “just so long as you can cover for me still.”

She frowned, “you’re leaving?”

“We’ve got a mission.”

“Fine, but I get your crossbow!”

“You already have two.”

“And I need three!”

“Fine,” he smiled and hugged his sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is based off a theory I have. It’s weird that Hyrule Warriors has mentions of Twilight and his time, but not actually Twilight. Maybe Cia just got Linkle instead from that time. 
> 
> I have actual evidence of this though. if any of you want to know, message me on tumblr or discord. 
> 
> Thanks to Kitsune on discord for giving me the idea of sensory overload for Twi.


	12. One

The last hero to be introduced into the group was actually a gaggle of four boys. The eight Links were camping when they heard voices arguing near them. 

“Nice going!” One screamed in anger, “next time don’t walk into a portal!”

“I-I’m s-sorry,” another cried, “but I t-thought...”

“You didn’t think at all!”

“Stop fighting!” A third voice commanded. 

The final one spoke up, “we have to figure out where we are.”

Twilight and Wild were the ones to check out the noises, with Wind forcibly joining the group. They walked over to see four identical people glaring at each other. 

“Why do I always have a headache?” The one in green asked before noticing the three heroes, “hello?”

“Is everything alright?” Twilight asked, “our camping group heard voices.”

“Everything is fine!” The green one smiled, waving them off, “just a bit lost-“

“We stepped through a portal and have no idea where we are,” the purple one bluntly stated. 

“Vio!” 

Vio ignored his companion, “may I ask where we are?”

“Hyrule,” Twilight answered, already suspicious, “what kind of portal.”

“Vio...”

“Green, please,” Vio waved off Green, “it was a dark one created by some creature. We were investigating when we fell in.”

Wind looked at Twilight and Wild and then back to the group, “would any of you happen to be named Link?”

“Y-!” The red one was about to answer when the blue one jumped on him. 

“It’s complicated,” Green frowned, “why?”

And that’s how they met the Heroes of the Four Sword. Twilight explained their situation and the group agreed to travel with them. Before introductions were made, they went back to the rest of the heroes. 

“So,” Warriors thought aloud, “you guys are quadruplets who are collectively your time’s hero?”

“That’s right,” Green answered, “the Four Sword was a mystical blade that replicated itself so all of us could use it to fight against evil!”

“And you are named after colors?” Sky asked. 

“From what we heard,” the blue one rolled his eyes, “you are all using nicknames because you all share the name Link. Are colors really that weird, *Sky*?”

Sky took the hint and backed off. 

“Anyway...” Green redirected the conversation, “my name is Green, I’m the level headed one and the leader.”

“My is name is Vio,” Vio added, “they say I’m the boring one, though I prefer the only one who actually reads.”

“Whatever, Violet!” The blue one growled. Vio glared back and Hyrule connected the dots. 

“So,” he began, “you help people tell you apart by giving them descriptions of your personalities. Is the blue one the emotional one?”

“You f*cking wish!” The blue one shouted, “name’s Blue and I’m known as the angry one. This is Red, the emotional one.”

“Hi, everybody!” Red waved, “it’s so nice to meet you!”

And, with that, the twelve heroes were set in stone. They traveled and became friends, but they all noticed weird things about the brothers. 

For one, they all fought perfectly in sync with each other. Without even sharing a plan they would jump into battle and quickly take care of it. Wind was convinced they used telepathy or had a communication device. It got to the point where Legend was starting to believe it. 

Second off, they were all weirdly attached to their respective swords. Wanting to be always armed wasn’t what they found weird, they all agreed on that, but it was the fact that they wanted no one else to touch them but them. Even each other. 

“Green!” Red cried one day, “I can’t find my sword!”

“Is it with your stuff?”

“No!” 

It turns out that Vio had accidentally grabbed Red’s and was carrying it around. That day was the closest anyone saw sweet little Red to murder. He nearly strangled Vio after he sighted the red gem on the hilt. 

So, in essence, weird and a little bit worrying. 

Third, they all told the exact same story, word for word, of their first adventure. Like, Time memorized what they said and checked it with all four of them: it was exactly the same. 

“The princess was turned to stone,” Green explained. 

“The Wind Mage needed to be stopped,” Blue growled. 

“So, I met the Minish!” Red squealed. 

“And the rest is history,” Vio finished. 

Word for word, and pretty vague at that. They also all took note of each brother using “I” instead of “we.”

But they had nothing to explain these oddities until one day...

“Green, psst!” One the brothers called out from their tent. Legend turned to look and saw... Vio? Blue? It was hard to tell from him hiding behind the tent flap. 

“Green!” Legend yelled, “your brother wants you.”

“Huh?” Green looked over before fear filled his face. He stopped talking to Time and immediately ran into the tent. 

Curious, Legend walked over and listened. 

“What’s going on?” Green asked, panicked. 

“We don’t know!” The brother responded, “something’s wrong with the Four Sword. We need to get to a blacksmith before we go crazy.”

“I’ll get Red to distract them, you two run and figure it out. Worst comes to worst...”

“No,” the brother’s voice was somehow angry and scared at the same time, “we can’t let them see us!”

Green sighed, “they could help us. Maybe...”

“We aren’t reversing this! You know how dangerous it is. How much it hurts...”

“Right. Red should be ready any-“

“Whatcha doing?” Red suddenly popped into Legend’s line of sight. 

“Ah!” He screamed and jumped backward, “don’t do that!”

He giggled, “sorry, but maybe you shouldn’t be listening in on my brothers. That’s rude you know.”

“Blue is nothing but rude, too,” Legend sneered. Hey, wait a minute! “I knew it!”

Red raised an eyebrow, “knew what?”

“Why are you here?” Legend leered. 

“Uh, it’s me and my brothers’ tent.”

“At this moment.”

Red glanced to the side, “uhh...”

“You came the second Green said you would be here,” Legend pointed out, “so you four do have some telepathy going on. What else are you hiding?”

“Nothing!” Red said too quickly, “Blue and Vio are just not feeling well and they don’t want to seem weak in front of everyone.”

“Uh-huh,” Legend called bull, “and how come whoever was in the tent is now gone?”

Red did his job correctly, because Legend didn’t realize the tent emptied until after the fact. He growled when he only saw Green, now talking with Time again. 

“You must have been imagining it,” Red smiled a fake smile, the liar!

Legend scrunched up his nose. He would get to the bottom of this. 

A day later, Blue and Vio were walking and talking, no signs of being sick. The liars.

The next time something like this happened, it was a little more obvious. They were in some town and Red and Green walked into a shop together. Only one of them, Green, came out and Red was nowhere to be found. 

“Where’s Red?” Wild asked. 

“Oh, he went out the back,” Green lied obviously, “he saw a cat and he wanted to pet it.”

Wild didn’t believe him, “what’s on your shirt?”

He pointed to the entire bottom right section of his tunic, which was now red. 

“A stain!” Green covered it the best he could with his hand, “the shop keeper dropped a potion on me. Nothing a little water won’t rinse off!”

“Okay,” Wild shrugged, “I don’t care that you’re lying, but the others might, so get better at hiding things.”

Green sighed in relief, “thank you, Wild! Something’s just going on with some of our magic, nothing to worry about.”

He was still lying, but secrets were secrets. Wild understood that.

The third time was the kicker. Green, Blue, and Vio were all missing and only Red was around. They were concerned, but Red wasn’t answering any questions. 

“Where’s your brothers?” Time asked. 

“Around, like always,” Red gestured vaguely, “I don’t know exactly where they are.”

“Bull!” Legend called out, “you four have some sort of way to communicate with each other.”

“That’s called talking!”

Legend jabbed, “where are they?”

With all the others looking down at him, with varying levels of anger and concern, Red broke. He started to cry and everyone looked at him awkwardly. Making Red cry wasn’t hard to do, but it felt like they kicked a puppy. 

“Red, buddy,” Twilight knelt down, “listen, we’re just worried about them.”

“I-I know!”

“You know that we would never do anything to hurt your brothers, right?”

“Y-yes.”

“Then can you tell us where they are so we can help them?”

Red sniffled, “they’ll get mad at me if I tell. They wouldn’t let me be with them ever again.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Twilight shook his head, “they care for you just as much as you do them. So?”

Red decided and wiped away his tears, “they’re at Death Mountain. I’ll show you.”

The walk to Death Mountain was a quiet and awkward one. Red kept sniffling and making pointless conversation about smithing while the others were wondering what was going on. 

Time had a theory. He always had theories. It was just a matter of how accurate his guesses were. And, what his was wasn’t good if true. 

Finally, they made it up to the center crater of the volcano and Red pointed. 

“There they are,” he said in a small voice. Everyone looked at where he directed them and they only saw one person. A very short, angry, agitated person. 

“Is that Blue?” Hyrule assumed. 

Red shook his head, “no...”

Upon closer inspection as the group slowly inched forward, they noticed something off about “Blue.” The tunic wasn’t correct, being a mashup of green, blue, and purple all at once, and the person was acting manic. 

“STUPID!” The person shouted, “STUPID! You can’t fix one sword! I might as well toss it into the lava!”

“What the-“ Wind started. 

“Shut up!” The person’s voice changed, “I can’t concentrate.”

“Oh you would like me to shut up. Shut up for good! Maybe don’t fix the stupid thing, then you won’t have to deal with me!”

“This is getting us no where!”

The voices kept changing and the whole time the person was running around a makeshift forge. They were hammering away at a sword on an anvil while also moving supplies around. 

“Work. Work! WORK!” The person screamed as the group finally made it to them. “WORK YOU GODDESS DAMNED SWORD!”

“Guys!” Red got the person’s attention and they turned around. 

The group took note of the person’s face: it was just like the brothers. Except, the hair was messily tied back into pony tail and the headband was pulled to its limits. Their eyes were crazy and had bags under them. Their lips were cracked from being in the heat for so long with no water. 

“Red,” the person now spoke in a chorus of voices, “what are *they* doing here?”

“They were really worried,” Red twiddled his fingers, “I thought it was time to finally tell them...”

“You thought wrong!” They spat and then shot their hand out to the group, “leave! You are interrupting us.”

“Hold up!” Warriors stepped forward, “what is going on?”

The person glared at him, “none of your business. We said leave!”

“Where’s Red’s brothers?”

The person laughed, “dead if you don’t let us to our job.”

Despite protests, the person turned around and went back to hammering their sword, which they now realized was a broken form of the Four Sword. 

“Work, work, work,” the person huffed as they slaved away, “no use in a broken blade!”

“Red,” Twilight looked at the boy, “can you explain?”

Red swallowed, “that’s... that’s my brothers.”

“Dr. Jekyll over there is Green, Vio, and Blue?” Warriors put his hands on his hips. 

“Yes,” Red nodded sadly, “you see-“

“No, no, Red!” The person, Green, Vio, and Blue, interrupted, “remember what happened the last time the secret was spilt. Blood was also spilt, and we were split.”

“This isn’t like last time!” Red shouted, “they aren’t trying to kill us and can actually help.”

The person huffed, “fine, but when they inevitably try to kill us, you will be the first to go.”

“Hold on,” Sky frowned, “we would never try to kill any of you.”

The person smirked, “heard that one before. Go on, Red, tell them the story of the Four Sword.”

At the mention of the blade, the person smashed their hammer down extra hard. The clang it made vibrated throughout the whole mountain. 

“Red?” Twilight asked. 

“We aren’t really brothers,” he explained, “originally, we were one person named Link and we went on an adventure with the Minish. Afterwards, the bad guy tricked us into pulling the Four Sword, setting him free. The Four Sword didn’t just copy itself, it copied...”

“Link,” Time’s theory was confirmed. He had heard the legends of the Four Sword, he just didn’t know if they were exaggerated or not. 

Red nodded, “the Four Sword split Link into us, but not everyone took that well. One time when we told someone that we were Link, it was a spy working for Ganondorf and, and...”

The sob told them everything. 

“After that, we promised to tell no one about who we were, which was easy when we finished our mission, because-“

“Because this is what happens,” the person spoke up again, “when broken pieces are put back together again!”

“We were going to put the Four Sword back where we found it,” Red continued, “but when we became Link again, we were still fractured. It almost drove us insane! We had to pull the sword out again and stay split and never be Link again.”

“Then what’s the problem now?” Legend asked. 

“The sword won’t work, work, work!” The person shrieked, hammering faster, “magic’s running out and pretty soon Link will be back and we will all be split!”

Red started crying hard, “we don’t know what to do. At first it was just two of us merging and coming apart, but now they won’t come back!”

“A broken sword is all we are,” the person agreed. 

“What can we do?” Time offered. 

Red spoke, “Vio had some theories before... well, he thought that fixing the actual blade could fix the problem, but that isn’t working. He also said the sword’s power could be refueled with either elemental or light magic.”

“What kind of elemental magic?” Wild asked. 

“The Four Sword was made with fire, water, earth, and air magic.”

“Would these work?” Wild pulled four multicolored orbs out of nowhere that he never showed before, “they are associated with different elemental powers, but I don’t know if they could work on others.”

“Those,” Red beamed, “would be perfect!”

“And I,” Legend dug through his bag, “have light arrows, gifted by Princess Zelda.”

“Guys,” Red looked at his brothers, “do you want to try?”

The person stopped for a second and smiled wickedly, “if this kills us, we told you so.”

A second later, they were ready. Wild did some sort of magic and made the orbs fly around three brothers, who were still hammering away at the sword. Legend was at a higher angle than all of them, bow in hand and ready to fire. Red was looking incredibly nervous. 

“Are you ready?” Twilight patted him on the back. 

“We haven’t been one in so long,” he admitted, “I’m scared we won’t be able to fix this.”

“We will,” Twilight smiled, “trust us!”

Red became determined, “I do. Are you ready, guys?”

“Yes!” That was Green’s voice shining through. 

“Never!” Blue jeered. 

“Now or never,” Vio declared. 

Red looked at all the Links, who were standing guard in case something went wrong, “thanks.”

He then ran to his brothers and in a flash of light, the four were one again. The tunic was now evenly split between the four colors and their hair was slightly longer. Link was whole once more. 

But for how long?

Sensing the slight hesitation, Link yelled in four different voice, “DO IT!”

Wild summoned the champions’ powers and lightning, wind, fire, and water filled the room. Legend fired a volley of arrows and light blinded almost everyone. Link, meanwhile, was holding up his sword, which was absorbing all the magic.

“Aaahhhh!” Link screamed in pain for ten seconds until everything went still and he collapsed on the ground. 

No one moved. No one breathed. All of them were staring to see what Link would do.

Slowly, Link moved. He picked himself up off the ground, using the Four Sword as a crutch. When he was on his feet, he looked at everyone and... smiled. 

“It’s so quiet,” he said in a soft voice. 

“What?” Legend asked. 

“I can only hear my voice,” he explained, grabbing his head in joy, “there’s only one voice! I’m whole again!”

And everyone was able to smile at the sight of Link being alright. 

“Wait,” Hyrule raised a hand, “what happened to, um, your parts?”

Link put a hand to his chin, “good question. Let me see.”

He raised his sword above his head and yelled. 

“HYAH!” Another flash of light surrounded him and in his place was the four brothers, this time looking much happier. 

“We did it!” Green celebrated. 

“Red,” Blue grunted, “stop hugging me!”

“Never,” Red refused, “you are never going to get rid of me now.”

Vio looked at the others, “thank you. I have been trying to figure out how to bring Link back for months.”

“No problem,” Sky smiled, “will we still see you around now that you can be one?”

Vio shrugged, “remember, we are just parts of a whole. As long as Link is around, we are around. But, I’m sure he’ll not be used to being one, so you’ll see a lot of us.”

Vio went back to his brothers and they fused a final time, leaving a very happy Link. He waved at everyone. 

“I believe I will be needing a new nickname,” he introduced himself, “hello, I am Four.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all those who read during the live write of this!


	13. Of Birthdays

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sequel to How Legends are Born

“Darling!” Time smiled as he swung the ranch house door open, “we’re back!”

“Thank goodness!” Malon called back from another room, “stay right there! I’ll be right out.”

One by one the Links entered the house and got situated. Legend was the last one in and Time put out a hand to stop him from moving. 

“What gives, Old Man?” He glared. 

“I’m telling Malon,” he answered plainly, “I just wanted you to know.”

Legend moved Time’s hand, “thanks, but I don’t really see this as a big deal. I don’t even exist in this timeline, and, if I did, we are too far apart for this to matter.”

Time shrugged, “it’s a big deal to us. To Malon and me, it’s proof that we can always have some kind of life together that goes somewhere. Even if the version of me that’s related to you is dead, I still had time to be with my wife.”

“Gross,” Legend rolled his eyes, “whatever makes you happiest I guess. Just promise me Malon won’t do that thing where she pinches my cheek that she does to Twilight and Wild.”

“Can’t promise that, Kit.”

“Of course...”

Malon then entered, hair tied back in a pony tale, “it’s been ages! I’m so glad you made it.”

She ran up to her husband and kissed him. While Legend before said his ancestry didn’t affect his view of the two, he couldn’t help but gag at the sight and turned away. 

“So,” Malon smiled, “do you know what day it is?”

“We’ve been on the road for awhile,” Time explained, “lost track of time.”

“You?” She smacked him playfully, “never! I bet you know the very minute on the clock, but dates have never been your strong suit, so... I guess you’ll have to guess!”

Time raised an eyebrow, “so, it’s a holiday?”

“To me it is.”

“Anniversary?”

“Of sorts!”

While the couple played, the others went into their normal routine on the farm. Every time they came they happened to want to help, so they fit into an unspoken chore list.

Twi and Four worked with the horses. Wind and Sky worked with the cuccos. Warriors and Hyrule went to fixing things. Wild messed with the horses and didn’t actually do anything useful. Legend, meanwhile, was leaning up against the side of the barn, looking cool. 

“You look like a dork!” Warriors shouted at him, and Legend flipped him off in response. 

But there was another reason why he was standing there, because it so happened that he could hear Time and Malon through an open window near him. Why was he listening? Not because he actually cared. No, sir!

“You can’t guess?” Malon pouted, “you’re really selfless, aren’t you, Fairy Boy?”

“What can I say?” Time smirked, “maybe if you told me the date, then I would know.”

“You’ll find out at dinner!” She smiled, “I’m just so excited you made it in time. Plus, with the boys!”

“Speaking of,” Time spoke and Legend leaned forward, “you know about Twilight, already-“

“Yes,” she interrupted, “what about him?”

“It’s not about him,” he shook his head, “but, it turns out, there’s another.”

“Another what? You better not be joking!”

Time laughed, “no, Honey, it turns out that this isn’t the only timeline that we will have children.”

“Who?”

“I guess you’ll have to guess.”

“You!” Malon huffed.

Legend listened harder to hear her guess, but he was then smacked in the head. 

“What are you doing?” Twilight growled. 

“Nothing, *cuz*,” he spat out the last bit, “I don’t have to work whenever we come here, you know!”

“But you also don’t gotta ease-drop,” Twilight pointed out, “now get to work before I sick a goat on you!”

“You can’t do that,” Legend leered. 

“How do you think Epona follows me around?” He smirked, “I can summon animals like Wild can apples.”

“If you are implying that you have a hundred goats in your pocket, then I don’t believe you.”

“Whatever,” he huffed and handed Legend some rope, “please stop Wild. He hopped on a wild horse and is now running crazy. Hogtie him or something.”

They worked for another hour before Malon called them in for dinner. Wild limped through the front door while Legend helped him. 

“This is degrading,” he complained. 

“I could’ve walked myself!” Wild bit. 

“No, you couldn’t!” Hyrule, the resident healer, shouted back. 

“Thanks, Legend,” Wild reluctantly took a swig of a potion before gagging. 

“No problem.” 

Once they were all set at seats or leaning on a counter, Malon clapped her hands. With a smile on her face, she cheerfully spoke. 

“Since my husband is a dreadful guesser,” she started, “y’all get to find out what today is with him. It’s November 21st!”

No one spoke. November 21st? Was that an era specific holiday or did it have a hidden meaning. Apparently it meant something for two of the group. 

“Oh!” Legend and Time said at the same time and they looked at each other. Legend quickly looked away. 

“Happy Birthday, Darling!” Malon then produced a decorated cake and sat it at the table. 

And the room exploded. 

“It’s your birthday?” Wind gasped, “why didn’t you tell us?!” 

“How old are you now?” Warriors bugged. 

“Happy birthday,” Wild and Twilight congratulated together. 

Legend, like always, sulked in the corner. Of course his birthday was November 21st!

“I honestly forgot,” Time laughed as Malon kissed him on the cheek, “thank you, Honey.”

“I don’t see any candles on the cake,” Four observed, “is that not a tradition in this time still?”

Malon waved her hands, “no, it still is! But I didn’t think Link would appreciate me spilling his secret.”

“C’mon!” Wind whined, “just tell us!”

Time shook his head, “I’m old enough to drink, and that’s all you will ever know.”

“But,” Malon whispered to them, “as a gift to y’all, if you have a new guess I’ll tell y’all how close y’all are.”

“They’ll never get it anyway,” Time said almost proudly. 

“It’s just a bit of fun!” Malon teased, “now, let’s cut the cake before I give you your present.”

So they did, with Malon doing the honor of passing around plates. Sky took the sweets gratefully and immediately dived in. 

“This is amazing!” Sky beamed. 

Malon chuckled, “thank you, I got the recipe from the Wild Boy over there, so thank him.”

Everyone took a plate, except for Legend, who politely declined. Malon frowned, but moved on. He was already awkward as it is, and he didn’t think eating cake would help him. 

“So,” Malon put her hands on her hips, “when are y’all boys’ birthdays? I never got most of your ages last time.”

“My birthday was actually yesterday,” Sky rubbed his head nervously, “I also forgot.”

Twilight raised his hand, “mine was the 19th.”

“Wow,” Malon nodded, “three birthdays so close. I’m sorry I didn’t have something planned.”

“It’s alright,” Sky shook his head, “this cake is enough!”

“Happy birthday, though!” Wind cheered. 

“Yes,” Malon turned to the rest, “now, what about the rest of you?”

“December 2nd,” Four answered. 

“December 13th!” Wind jumped up and down. 

“February 21st,” Hyrule supplied. 

“August 14th,” Warriors looked around, “what’s with all the winter births?”

“I think March 3rd,” Wild hesitated, “though I would need to check.”

Suddenly, Legend felt nine pairs on eyes on him. 

“What?” He asked. 

“When’s your birthday?!” Wind prodded. 

“Oh,” Legend paled, “it’s, it’s... June...6th...”

“Doubt,” Warriors remarked, “Wild gave a more confident answer.”

“I’ve time traveled a lot!” Legend tried to save himself, “so sue me if I lost track!”

“I think you would remember the date,” Warriors pointed out, “like Time did, but you could forget what day or year it is.”

“Come on now, boys,” Time stood up, “this isn’t an interrogation.”

“You reacted when Malon said the date,” Four remembered and ignored Time, “why?”

“I just didn’t know what the date was, okay?” 

“Is it because your birthday is actually a lot closer?” 

Legend froze, and that gave everyone the confirmation that they needed. 

“So what!?” Legend sneered, “it just so happens that my birthday is also today, alright!”

“Oh,” Four responded, stunned. 

“Yeah,” Legend replied, “let’s just moved on. I don’t celebrate my birthday anyway. I don’t see a point when I’m probably older than I’m supposed to be.”

“Well,” Malon smiled, “happy birthday regardless. An odd coincidence that you share a birthday with my husband.”

Her eyes knitted together on that sentence. If Legend didn’t know any better, he’d say she was just curious, but he knew she was suspicious. 

“Eh,” Legend scrunched up his face, “maybe the gods just liked these days. Sky and Twilight are close, too.”

She wasn’t convinced. What had this lady seen that made her think something like a birthday was a sign of relation? Coincidences must have been minimal in her life.

They went back to eating cake and chatting. When they were done, Wild and Sky took the plates and started to do the dishes. Malon then forced her husband to stand up. 

“Time for your present!” She gestured for him to follow her, “come with me. You two, too, I need some help.”

She pointed to Twilight and Legend. Twilight happily complied and Legend slunked as he walked after the three. Once they were in the other room, Malon closed the door with a soft click. 

“I really do hope I got this right,” she muttered, “it would be embarrassing if I didn’t. Am I right, Dear?” 

Time smiled, “yes, Darling.”

Oh, so this is what this is, Legend realized. He’d been trapped! Now he couldn’t escape from any questions Malon asked. 

“I can’t believe there are two of y’all who are related to us,” she looked at the two young adults, “it’s incredible!”

“Actually,” Legend raised a finger, “the you I’m related to isn’t really you, so-“

“Don’t care!” She stopped him, “my blood is my blood, and you are my grandchild or something, so don’t deny it!”

Twilight started to snicker as she poked and prodded Legend like she did to him when she found out. Legend glared at him and mentally promised revenge. 

“He kept a little bit of the red hair,” she pointed out his pink strand, “is this natural?”

“That’s a personal question,” he deflected. 

“Certainly got the mysterious trait from you,” she tutted, “and the messy hair!”

“Hey!” 

Finally, she backed away and wrapped her hand around Time.

“Now, I can really tell you your present,” she beamed. 

“Should we be here?” Twilight asked. 

“Yes!” Malon responded quickly, “I was planning on you being here, Twi, but since Link told me about Legend, I wanted him here as well.”

“Do I get a say in this?” Legend asked

“No!”

“What’s with the secrecy?” Time asked sarcastically, “are you getting the mysterious trait from me, too?”

She laughed, “hush. I hope you’re ready for this!”

She backed away from all of them and spoke. 

“We’ve known for awhile that this, us, is going to last thanks to him,” she pointed to Twilight, “and I couldn’t be more excited to finally see the start of a legend, of multiple legends.”

She winked at the last bit. She also patted her stomach. Time’s eyes widened and for the first time Legend saw shock on his face. 

“Malon,” he said warily, “are you saying?”

She burst out in tears of joy, “I’m pregnant!”

Time broke character and ran to his wife. Delicately picking her up in his arms he spun her around while laughing. 

“That’s,” he smiled, “wonderful!”

“That’s amazing,” Twilight gasped. 

“C-congratulations,” Legend stuttered out. He was not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster that was that day. 

“In a couple months,” Malon held Time, “we will welcome our blessing of a daughter into the world.”

“Daughter?” Twilight asked, “how do you already know.”

“I’ve got Gerudo in my veins,” Malon answered, “my mother came from the desert. No way we are having a son.”

“As my Zelda always tells me,” Legend stated, “better to have ten daughters than one son. I think that was her way of saying how she wishes I wasn’t born, but can’t say I don’t agree.”

Malon laughed and kissed her husband one more time. Legend was spooked when Twilight nudged him, almost in a brotherly way. 

This is what it felt like to be in a close family, he thought, it felt... warm. Way warmer than him and his uncle all alone in a war-torn part of Hyrule.

He felt at home. 

Later, Malon and Time would announce the news to everybody else. And it was a very joyous household that night.

Months laters, after leaving a returning multiple times, the big day had finally arrived. Thank the goddesses, as they had arrived moments before Malon went into labor. 

Most of the Link’s were kicked out of the house. Warriors was ordered to find a doctor and he took Wind with him. Hyrule was to make sure he had healing magic at the ready in case something bad happened. The others were standing outside, waiting for news. 

Twilight and Legend had the honor of being in the room. Legend almost ran out five different times, but he was impressed by Malon’s curse word vocabulary and her strength throughout the whole thing. Twilight didn’t even flinch, giving some nonsense about helping many animals give birth. 

What? All those goats that are in your pocket? Legend remembered the threat. 

Thankfully, it happened quickly and Malon gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Malon was tired, but she was alright. 

“That was gross,” Legend said as he walked out, “everyone, they said you could come in.”

Wind yelled happily. Him and Warriors never found a doctor, so they were worried that something could’ve gone wrong. 

Once they were all inside, Time introduced them to his child. It was a tiny thing, Legend almost had the severe urge to drop kick it, and you could see tiny wisps of red hair. Her eyes were the brightest blue and rivaled Twilight’s. 

“May I introduce,” Time rocked her, “Lady Navi of Lon Lon Ranch.”

“So formal,” Warriors said quietly, “she’s beautiful.”

“Can I hold her?” Wind asked in wonder, “I know how to!”

“Of course,” Malon sighed. 

Navi was passed around to all the Links. Wind said how much she reminded him of Aryll when she was born. Sky cooed at her and couldn’t stop thinking about his future with Zelda. Four simply smiled and Hyrule rocked her a bit. Warriors promised to help in any way he could with the baby and Wild refused to hold her. 

“Sorry,” he apologized, “I don’t want to accidentally drop her.”

“Thanks for that, Wild!” Legend groaned as he was then handed Navi. He looked down at her, “uh, hi?”

No response, clearly. 

“Alright, Twilight!” He panicked, “you take her.”

Twilight did gratefully, though it was a little weird for him, holding his direct ancestor. If he dropped her he could kill his whole bloodline. 

“What are we to her, then?” Twilight asked, “she my great-grandmother somewhere, but what about now.”

A couple months ago, the beans spilled of Legend and Twilight being related to Time, so they no longer had to keep it a secret. Thanks, Hyrule. 

“We could be her uncles,” Legend suggested. 

“Wouldn’t we be more along the lines of nephews?” Twilight asked. 

“I am not called an infant aunt.”

“Would you rather call her grandmother?”

“Nephews it is.”

Malon and Time smiled at each other and looked back Navi. After all these years, they had finally found their fairy, they would just have to be the guardians now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy early 21st birthday to Time! And happy early 28th birthday to Legend! 
> 
> So sorry that I missed Twilight and Sky’s, but there was no way I was missing my boy Legend!


	14. Grounded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaos

Time was not amused. Currently, he was staring up at the man who deemed himself his father, the Fierce Deity. Time had crossed his arms and his face held a frown, whereas the Deity’s had his hands on his hips and a smirk gracing his lips. 

Ever since the Fierce Deity broke out of his mask, he had been a nuisance, at least, in Time’s opinion. He made himself look less frightening to passerby’s, shrinking a bit and removing the glowing eyes, but he refused to get rid of his markings and he still wanted to be taller than Time. 

“It shows our family resemblance,” he argued. 

“We are not family!” Time rebuked. 

And that’s how Time came to be staring up at a god in the form of a mortal. 

“This is awesome,” Legend walked in on the staring contest, “Old Man in a fight with his old man.”

“We are not fighting.”

“Not my father.”

They spoke at the same time and neither looked in Legend’s direction.

“Sure,” he shrugged, “what’s it this time? Did Time get in trouble?! Is Time grounded?!”

He bounced up and down at the thought. The only actual adult in their group being grounded would be hilarious. 

“This is ridiculous,” Time snarled. 

The Fierce Deity mused, “grounded? I guess you could say that. Isn’t that right, Son?”

“Don’t call me son!”

“Yo, Pops,” Legend asked the god, “why is he grounded?”

The Deity beamed, “see? He gets it! Anyway, he simply wasn’t using the tools that he has in his arsenal to their fullest potential. Since he wasn’t going to use them, I decided he didn’t need them.”

“I did not use them,” Time gritted his teeth, “because I respect the souls inside them!”

The Deity waved him off, “but didn’t they tell you that you could call on them anytime? I saw a million and five ways in the last battle alone that Mikau could’ve been used. The little sailor wouldn’t have broken his bone with him here.”

Legend called out, “whomst? Who’s Mikau?”

“None of your business,” Time snapped, “Wind’s arm isn’t my fault and you have no right to tell me what to do with Mikau.”

“Believe what you will, Son,” the Deity shook his head, “why don’t we ask Mikau, then?”

“Mikau isn’t even fully here! He’s more me than him when it comes to thoughts.”

“Then why shouldn’t you use his form if it’s just you?”

Legend leaned against the nearest wall and watched the fireworks. It was entertaining to see Time, who usually towers above everyone, look like a five year old fighting with his dad. He bickered, uncharacteristically, with the god and said god didn’t even flinch. 

“Now, Son...”

“If you were truly my father, you’d be dead.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Give them back!”

“No, you are grounded, as the rat so eloquent put.”

Hey! Legend wanted to shout, but realized it wasn’t worth it. 

The fighting continued for another half hour. Slowly, the other Links trickled in. 

“What’s going on?” Wind asked, arm in a sling. Four was standing beside him. 

“Time’s fighting with his dad,” Legend patted the ground next to him, “wanna watch?”

“F*ck yeah!”

“Wind,” Four sighed and sat down, “stop swearing.”

“Make me.”

The next group that came in was comprised of Warriors, Hyrule, and Sky. Warriors agreed to watch, as long as he could have his shield in front of him. Hyrule did the same. 

“I’m getting Twi,” Sky walked out, “he can calm Time down.”

“Your loss,” Legend yelled after him.

Five more minutes of arguing passed. Bets were being placed on who would throw the first punch... and who would lose the following fight. Time wasn’t looking good for either bet. 

“You are acting like a child,” the Fierce Deity pointed out, “act your age.”

“I can act how ever I damn well please!” Time shouted, “I never got to be a child, and you know that!”

“Your children are watching.”

“Then just give me back my masks, and this will all be done.”

“No.”

Sky arrived again, this time with Twilight and Wild in tow. Twilight looked at the fight with concern, while Wild gave a huff of amusement. 

“How do we stop them?” Twilight worried, “they could destroy this whole province if this escalates to an actual fight.”

“You don’t know?” Sky’s eyes widened. 

“Why would I know how to stop a god and Time from fighting? I’ve never seen him like this.”

“Fine,” it appeared that the Fierce Deity was actually tiring of the argument, “if you insist on not acting your age, then I suppose I will have to make you.”

Twilight sensed the threat in the tone and ran forward to try to stop what ever would happen. He was too slow, because all that was required was for the Deity to snap his fingers and light filled the room. 

Everyone was blinded, except for Hyrule and Warriors, who hid behind their shields. When they poked their heads out to see what happened, Warriors caught sight of someone who he thought he’d never see again. 

Everyone’s eyes cleared to see, right below the eight foot tall god, a four foot child in a green tunic standing there. No one moved, now even Twilight.

But the child did talk. 

“So,” the shrill voice shrieked, “causing yourself to be taller doesn’t change the fact that you took my belongings. You are not my father and therefore had no right to do that. And another thing-“

“Time?” Twilight asked uncertainly.

The child’s head swiveled to look at Twilight, but he found himself looking at his stomach. He looked up to see the confusion on the rancher’s face. 

“Oh,” he said softly and looked at his hands, “oh.”

“Holy sh*t!” Wind whispered, “he’s babey.”

Four shushed him. 

The child Time clenched his hands and looked up at the Deity, who seemed proud of himself. 

“This is a low blow,” Time growled. 

“Literally,” Legend cupped his hands to his mouth to amplify his sound. 

“Legend,” Time didn’t even look at him, but Legend still felt the glare, “talk again and you are dead.”

He stiffened and didn’t say another word. The Deity crouched down to reach Time’s new height, though he still towered above him. 

“Maybe now you’ll learn to listen, Son,” he cooed and ruffled Time’s hair. 

Time slapped his hand away, “are you going to give me back my masks now, *Dad*?”

His voice dripped with malice. Twilight backed away a little, fearful of the unknown form of his ancestor. 

The Fierce Deity beamed, not getting the sarcasm, “maybe in a few years. You never were a child, so now is your chance!”

Time got angry, “what?”

He attempted to pull the Biggoron Sword off his back, but comically fell over with the weight. He wasn’t used to the difference of weight and height, even if he could wield the sword in the past. 

The Deity gave a hearty laugh, “out of touch, I see!”

Time stood up, tossing aside his no longer trusty sword. Inside, he reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out...a slingshot?

“What are you going to do with that?” The Deity asked in a patronizing tone. 

He gave no response. Instead, he quickly pointed it directly at the Fierce Deity’s eye and fired a deku nut. It hit its mark and the Deity felt pain from the nut and blindness from the flashing produced by it. He heard a second pop and when he could see again, Time was no longer in front of him. 

“What,” Hyrule coughed, waving away the smoke, “was that?”

“Since when did Time have a slingshot?” Wild looked to Twilight. 

“Where’d he go?” Twilight asked, nearly shouting. 

The Fierce Deity stood up to his full height. He seemed annoyed. 

“Son...” he hissed. 

“I have a lot of items that none of you know about,” Time’s voice echoed from somewhere in the room, “items that only a child could use.”

There was some quick music being played from an ocarina. Suddenly, it started to rain indoors. A childish laugh rang from somewhere, it’s origin being lost with the excess noise. 

“It seems you have forgotten where I was raised and by whom,” a boomerang smacked the Deity in the face before flying off into nothingness, “I was raised by the Kokiri and friends with Skull Kids.”

Time reappeared with his bunny hood in his hands, “it’s better that I was never a child. You have no idea how much of a menace I could have been.”

He put on his hood and zoomed out of sight, leaving the eight Heroes and one god to stand there, befuddled. 

“Oh, yeah,” Wind spoke first, “I am going to love this!”

The Fierce Deity was at a loss for words. It seemed that he didn’t know what demon he unleashed unto the world.

The next few days were a living hell for the group. Well, for some of them, at least. 

Wind, as mentioned before, was loving every second of the chaos that a young Time wrought. Wild, as well, was enjoying the destruction. Everyone was also pretty sure that those two helped Time in whatever prank he planned. 

For the most part, Warriors, Hyrule, Sky, and Four got ignored. They only got scared by Time sparingly. Warriors actually got to talk to the child when everyone else was asleep, and he commented on how weird it was to see Young Link again. 

Time shrugged, “feels the same to me. I don’t fit in any body, so this weirdness is nothing new.”

For the last three members of the group, though, it was terrible. 

Twilight’s older brother instinct kicked in, seeing a bit of Talo in Time’s antics, and constantly worried if he was getting himself hurt. He shouldn’t have to be worrying about the man who he saw as a father figure, he thought. But did that stop him? No, he worried even more. 

Legend regretted ever speaking, as he was the one to get the second most of Time’s pranks. One day he woke up with completely pink hair and a fluffle of bunnies in his tent. That was only the least annoying prank that he was the recipient of. 

Finally, the Fierce Deity now knew what it meant to have a child. He never got a moment alone, as he was always being demented by Time in one way or another. To make it worse, he couldn’t die, so Time was able to do a number of dangerous pranks on him. 

Pranks that involved pushing him off a cliff, for instance. Or putting bees near him at all times. OR placing his useless Biggoron Sword right where he was about to step, causing him to stab himself through the foot. 

Overall, a lovely time.

“Just give him back the masks!” Twilight groaned on day six of the Tiny Time Terror. 

“No,” the Fierce Deity shook his head, “he hasn’t learned his lesson.”

“At the very least, change him back,” he suggested, “please, I am going crazy.”

“You’re going crazy?” The sound of bees filled the god’s ears. 

Twilight slammed his face into his hands, “how is he even sneaking around?”

The Deity sighed, “his stone mask.”

Twilight stared at him, exasperated, “I think you took the wrong masks.”

“No,” the Deity shook his head, “believe me, it would be way worse if he had-“

“Are you talking about these?” Time popped up from behind them. He was holding three distinct masks: a zora, a goron, and a deku scrub. 

“How?” The Deity groaned. 

Time stuck his tongue out, “I was taught by thieves and know magic. You figure it out! It did take a while, though; I had to wear you down first.”

“That’s it,” Twilight tossed his hands in the air, “I’m done. Time, don’t kill anyone, and I’m out of here.”

“No promises!” Time called after him before turning his mischievous smile to the Deity, “so, Dad, ready to play?”

A few seconds later the Fierce Deity was seen running away from a speeding goron. Wild saw the chase and caught the spirit. 

“Yeah, brother!” He called, “rock and roll!”

If he was truly the one saying that, no one knew.

The following week was filled with even more anarchy. This time, it wasn’t only Legend and the Deity being attacked, but everybody. 

Four and Sky were jump-scared by a deku scrub every other hour. Warriors lost a wrestling match to a goron, badly, and had to eat a rock as consequence. Wind’s Wind Waker was constantly stolen to be used to help a certain zora toss their fins farther. Wild almost got ran over by the goron. Legend was spat at and attacked more times than he could count. Hyrule could never trust where he was standing for fear of being over a sprout’s temporary home. 

The Fierce Deity got the worst of it. Time’s chanting of “Dad, Dad, Dad” was following him at all times. He couldn’t sit down, eat, or even breathe without being attacked. At some point Time decided to mess with him and leave him alone for an hour, but the Deity looked over his shoulder constantly and was even more on edge. 

Twilight, meanwhile, found a quiet place in the woods to drink some milk. He hummed and playing with Ilia’s charm. And, when the screams got too loud, he hummed even louder.

Then, there was nothing. Two weeks of torment and then radio silence from the chaos child. It would’ve been a relief, if not for the fear that held them all together. 

“Where is he?” Legend pulled at his now neon green hair, “change him back!”

“I don’t know,” the Deity rubbed his eyes, “I don’t have a tracker on him.”

“Seriously,” Four groaned, “you’re a god.”

“A god who is very tired.”

The group was all together, trying to figure out what to do. Twilight came out of his woods and he was smiling contently. 

Suddenly, “boo!”

They all jumped back, flinching, as Time reappeared, laughing. It was odd that they never saw Time as happy as he was when he tortured them. 

“This has been fun,” he wiped away his tears, “but I think you all have had enough.”

“Thank Hylia!” Legend cried for the first time in his life. 

“So, Dad,” he hopped over to the tired god, “I’m ready!”

Weakly, the Deity snapped his fingers and there was a flash of light. Time was back to his normal self and looking very smug.

“Take this as a lesson to never mess with me again,” he smiled. 

Everyone breathed a sigh a sigh of relief. Wild ran up to Time. 

“Teach me your chaotic ways,” he pleaded. 

“No!” Twilight pushed him away, “we are never dealing with this again.”

“Yes,” the Deity stood up and beamed, “especially since this all went to plan.”

“Excuse me?” Time crossed his arms, “last I checked I almost had a god kneeling before me.”

The Fierce Deity waved him off, “I am not Majora, Son. But, I stand by what I said, you learned your lesson. *You used your masks to their potential*.”

Time froze, “you...you bastard! You didn’t plan this!”

Hyrule collapsed, “if he planned this, I might kill him.”

“You called me Dad!”

“Shut up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this during a small break of writing Born of Nightmares


	15. A Pack of Problems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This had no editing, I really need to stop writing

“I really, really hate you, Wild,” Legend slammed his head into the ground. 

“Hey!” Wild protested, “it’s not my fault you tried to steal Twilight’s necklace!”

“How was I suppose to know it would do this?!”

Earlier in the day, Wild had spotted Legend lurking around Twi’s tent. He was suspicious, but they seemed to have been getting along better ever since their connection was revealed to everyone, so Wild moved along. Later, after Twilight went to sleep, Wild saw Legend walk into his tent and walk out with a pouch. 

A pouch that contained a very powerful piece of magic that Twilight didn’t let anyone near. 

Only Wild, Time, and Four knew what the stone could do, so Wild immediately went up to take it back. Legend ran away, proclaiming that he just wanted to study it and see if it was dark magic, and Wild only caught up when they were in the trees. He tried to fight for it back, but that just opened the back and both of them touched the stone. 

And that’s how there were now two wolves snarling at each other.

Wild had turned into a maraudo wolf from his time. He had light blue fur on his left and slightly darker blue fur on his right. His tail’s fur was exceptionally long and it trailed behind him. His scars transitioned over to his wolf form by having a bit of his left ear missing and his whole left side being bumpy as fur tried to grow over the injuries. 

Legend turned into a wolf neither of them recognized, but he had most blond fur with some brown mixed in. His underbelly inherited his pink streak and was a light bubblegum color. His pegasus boots turned into longer tuffs of hair on his legs and his skirt made longer fur on his back, but not his tail.

When comparing sizes, Wild was the larger wolf by far. His legs alone were bigger than Legend. He didn’t know whether that made Wild big or him small, but Legend called bull. 

Perception wise, Wild, while upset with Legend for stealing, couldn’t wait to try out his new form. He was always jealous of Twilight being able to have this kind of freedom, but now he could run wild. He could already feel the wind on his fur, begging him to soar. 

Legend, on the other hand, was hating every second of his existence. It was better than being a completely pink humanoid bunny, but it wasn’t much better. He didn’t look dumb, but at least then he could stand up right. 

This doesn’t make any sense, he growled, unless it does... wait a minute!

The gears worked in his head and he barked at Wild. 

“Twilight was Wolfie this whole time?!”

Wild sat on his hind legs, “yeah, but he didn’t want anyone to know.”

“Good going, then,” Legend replied sarcastically, “now I know, and the rest are gonna know if we can’t figure out a way to change back!”

“All I know is that Twilight uses the stone to change back and forth,” Wild informed him, “I don’t know how though. We’re going to have to go get him.”

Legend shook his head, “no! He won’t understand us, and there is no way I’m letting anyone see me like this.”

“Stop whining! You stole the necklace, so this is your fault. Besides, Twilight can talk to animals, clearly, and no one will know it is us. No one’s realized that Twi was Wolfie unless they’ve witnessed the magic first hand. We’re all kind of dense.”

Legend wanted to retort, but it was the truth. No one had found out that he and Time were related until Hyrule snitched, so Wild was correct at their observation skills. 

“If you do anything to give us away when we change back,” Legend threatened, “I will kill you.”

“You’ll have to catch me first!” Wild started to run back to camp. For someone who had never ran on four legs before, Wild managed well as he sprinted faster than most normal wolves. 

“Hey!” Legend cried and he promptly tripped over his paws. Pathetically, he had to walk slowly before being able to run. Even then, his running was slow, which he cursed his height for his short stride. 

By the time he made it back to the outside of their camp, Wild was sitting there, with a satisfied smirk on his snout. His long tail waved back and forth and he gestured his head toward camp, telling Legend to follow him. 

“Couldn’t’ve slow downed,” he muttered and tried not to listen to the reactions of the Heroes as they made their way to Twilight. Twilight happened to be on the very far end of camp, too, so it was very hard not to hear. 

“Uh,” Hyrule spoke first, “there’s two wolves!”

“They seem friendly,” Sky observed, “maybe they’re friends with Wolfie?”

“No,” Four shook his head, “Wolfie is his own enigma. Maybe they’re just tamed?”

“This one’s cute!” Wind commented, pointing to Legend, “can I pet him?”

He backed up when Legend growled at him. Wild gave him a side ways glance. 

“That isn’t nice,” he pointed out. 

“If anyone touches me,” Legend glared, “they’re losing a hand.”

They finally made it to Twilight, who was in the middle of a conversation with Time. They both somehow didn’t notice the commotion that the wolves started up. Wild gave a soft bark and got their attention.

“What?” Twilight looked down and saw one smiling and one snarling wolf, “how?”

Time stood there amused, “it seems this is a hereditary trait.”

Twilight patted his chest, looking for his pouch, “my...it’s gone. Did you take it?”

He directed the question to Wild. Offended, he shook his head and moved his whole body to point to Legend. Legend just stopped snarling. 

Twilight sighed, “really?”

“Hi, Twi!” Wild barked and wagged his tail. 

“Cub,” he groaned, “you knew what the stone could do. Why did you touch it?”

“Legend tried to steal it,” Wild explained, “I was getting it back, but the bag opened.”

“In my defense,” Legend defended, “I only wanted to know what kind of magic it was. Can you remove it now.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight shrugged, “I’ve only ever had to change myself back, that or use a spirit. Maybe... Time?”

Time looked shocked that he was bringing *that* up, “if it’s the only way, then we’ll have to be away from everyone.”

“I’ll meet you guys once I tell everyone some lie,” Twilight informed them. 

“Alright,” Time started walking, “come along, Kit, Cub.”

Wild cantered alongside Time, swerving in and out, and just overall having a grand time. Legend still stumbled as he walked, but he was determined not to trip in front of everyone. 

“How come you said it was hereditary,” Legend looked up to Time once they were out of the camp. 

Time didn’t look down, “I’m not like Twilight, Kit, I can’t understand you.”

Wild answered instead, “it’s because wolves run in the family.”

“Why are you a wolf, then?”

“Remember how I told you that all of us are dense?”

Legend wanted to hit himself, “you’re also related?”

He bounced, “yup! Twilight’s my great-something grandfather.”

“Great,” Legend muttered, “I’m related to an arsonist.”

“This should be good,” Time interrupted his thoughts and they were in a clearing, “let’s wait for Twilight.”

Moments later, Twilight ran into the clearing. Once he took a second to breathe, he looked at the two all over. 

“It’s odd that you both were able to change,” he commented, feeling Legend’s forehead for something, “you must’ve touched the stone at the same time.”

“Can you stop that?” Legend tried to move away. 

“No!” Twilight stated, “the stone becomes a part of you when you change, I’m looking for it. Wait, there it is!”

He tapped Legend on the forehead once more and then he was pushed away from them by magic. Twilight fell hard on the ground and black magic overtook him. When the magic dispersed, Wolfie was in front of him. 

“It’s definitely in you,” Twilight walked up to them, “you could learn how to take it out, but that would take ages, unless Time can-“

“Why am I so small!” Legend complained. With Twilight right next to them, he could make out the height difference even more. Twilight was slightly taller than Wild, and he didn’t like it. 

“The Twili magic reflects your personality,” Twilight glared, “maybe it’s because of your short temper, cousin.”

“Stop fighting, boys,” Time said in a calm voice. 

They looked over to see a forth wolf, one that only one of them had seen before. It was even larger than Twilight and was a brilliant glowing gold. Oddly, one of its eyes, the only one that worked, was a piercing red. 

“Time?” Legend asked, “how?”

Time sat beside them, “while what you experience is Twili magic, I recently learned to change form using light magic. Hopefully that will be of use to changing you back.”

Twilight nodded, “Twili magic is very similar to dark magic, with some key differences, and it shares the same weaknesses. Over exposure to light magic could force you back to normal, if we have enough.”

“How come you never use this in battle?” Wild questioned, “like Twi does.”

“This is only something I’ve learned recently,” Time explained, “so it still takes a lot of my energy. Enough talk, now, before the other get suspicious.”

Wild whimpered, “do we have to do?”

“Yes!” Legend barked. 

“This could be dangerous,” Time warned, “so, don’t do anything idiotic.”

“They already have,” Twilight rolled his eyes and moved to sit behind Time. 

Time closed his eyes and concentrated. Slowly, light crept out of him and it moved towards the two smaller wolves. It grew in intensity until no one could see anything. When the light was gone, Wild and Legend were back to human form with two small stones at their feet.

“Nice going,” Twilight changed back and used part of his glove to pick up the stones, “you broke my stone into three parts.”

“At least we’re back to normal,” Legend stood up, cleaning off the dirt on his tunic. 

“I hope you learned not to steal,” Time said once he too was back to normal. 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Old Man.” 

Wild, meanwhile, was pouting at Twilight. Twilight was glaring back at him and they were having a silent conversation. Evidently, the rancher lost the argument. 

“Fine,” he side and handed Wild a pouch and the stone, “I can’t use these pieces and I’d rather they weren’t laying them around. You can have them.”

“Yes!” Wild jumped, “please teach me how to change back.”

“Later,” Twilight looked to Legend, “do you want to be a wolf when you want, too?”

He thought for a moment. It would be an asset in fighting if he used it like Twilight, but he was embarrassingly small. Though, no one would know it was him. 

“Sure,” he swiped the pouch that was hanging in front of him, “as long as you tell no one.”

“Same to you, cousin.”

“Come on,” Time ruffled the two’s hairs, “let’s get back to camp.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise Hydrangea Cherry that i will do your prompt soon


	16. A Big Problem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Hydrangea Cherry

“You guys are going to love Sidon!” Wild gushed, “he’s so friendly and nice!”

“You seem to really like this Sidon,” Legend implied, “are you two close?”

“He was my first friend after waking up!” Wild didn’t catch his meaning, “and he helped me anyway he cou- hey!”

Legend laughed as he got hit on the head by Wild. He didn’t regret it. 

“We’re close,” Wild grunted, “we should be at the domain in a bit.”

They were following the Zora River and were wary of any monsters. When Wild realized that none of them had seen his Zora’s Domain, he demanded that they go there. Hyrule and a few others were worried, having only met hostile Zoras, but he assured them otherwise. 

He was going to make them see how nice his Zoras were. And, what better way to do that then show them his best friend. 

After passing one bridge and going to the small path that wound up to the Domain, Twilight spotted something. He pointed it out to everyone. 

“I know you said that your Zoras are big,” he commented, “but there is no way they are that big.”

He was pointing to a very large Zora that was leaning against the wall right next to another bridge. Hyrule instinctively grabbed his sword. 

“Wait, what,” Wild glanced at the Zora and nearly tripped, “how?!”

“They shouldn’t be that big, then?” Sky asked. 

“No!” He clawed his face, “the only one that is that big is King Dorephan.”

“Maybe we should just ask them?” Time suggested, “might be some magic.”

Wild nodded while mumbling, “why are they this far away from the Domain, anyway?”

Once they were closer to the giant, Legend shouted up at it.

“HEY, BIG GUY!”

The Zora turned around, causing a couple of them duck as one of his fins came too close, and his face gave off a questioning look. He tilted his head to the side before beaming at the sight of Wild. 

“Link!” He boomed, “it’s good to see you again, my friend!”

Wild choked, “S-sidon?”

The giant, Sidon, didn’t answer. Instead, he picked Wild up by the waist and hugged him fiercely. With someone as reference, the Links could see that Sidon was taller than all of them combined, Wild being smaller than his face. 

“Sidon,” he gasped, “explain.”

“Oh,” the Prince apologized, “sorry, my friend.”

He sat Wild carefully on his left shoulder, which Wild would’ve been fine about if not for the unanswered questions, and looked at him. 

“You see,” Sidon smiled, “Princess Zelda is studying here for the moment and doing some experiments.”

“Zelda should be in Hateno,” Wild raised an eyebrow, “did she-“

“She and the Doctor blew up their lab,” he interrupted, “so, I offered her a place to work here, because I knew she would blow up your house without the lab.”

“...thanks.”

Sidon nodded, “I happened to walk in on one of their experiments at the wrong time. They were working on a potion to make things bigger and smaller, inspired by the legends of the Picori, and I happened to spill some on me.”

Wild smacked his head, “why?”

He didn’t answer, “I almost destroyed the room we were in! Luckily, I was near the door and got out in time. Sadly, the Domain isn’t meant for those as big as me, regardless of my father, so I have to stay here until the potion wears off.”

“How long?”

“Either a week or if Princess Zelda can fix the shrinking potion. Now, enough about me, who are your friends?”

He refused to listen to Wilds complaints and crouched down to wave to the new people. All the Links introduced themselves and Sidon greeted them eagerly. 

“You’re the Heroes that Link has written about,” he realized. 

“He’s told us a lot about you, too,” Twilight said, “he wanted to get Hyrule comfortable with Zoras, he’s only met violent ones.”

“I understand,” Sidon beamed at Hyrule, who was hiding behind Legend, “I am sorry that you had to meet me like this, friend! But, I promise, I am very polite and I would never hurt a friend of Link’s.”

Hyrule just buried himself deeper into Legend tunic. Legend, meanwhile, was getting annoyed. 

“While I’m honored,” Legend tried to push him off, “that you chose me as your human shield, but if you don’t get off me you won’t have to be afraid of Zoras anymore!”

“I am doing this,” Hyrule shouted, “because my first reaction right now is to kill any monsters I see!”

“Hyrule,” Wild growled. 

“I’m going to do that!” Hyrule snapped back, “that’s why I am trying to stop myself!”

“Maybe you should go until the Princess fixes this?” Sidon suggested, “I do not wish to cause your friend discomfort. Nor do I wish harm to myself, if I am to be honest.”

“Great,” Legend said sarcastically, “now you can move, Hyrule!”

Slowly, the brunet came into the open and shook his head, “no, I need to be friendly. I know you aren’t like the Zoras of my time. It’s nice to meet you.”

For safety, he tossed his sword to the side and reached out his hand to Sidon. Sidon enthusiastically shook it and, when done, Hyrule tried not to rocket backwards. 

“Prince Sidon!” A new voice called. It was Zelda, and she was running forward with a bottle in her hand, “I think I’ve got it.”

What happened next was unfortunate, yet hilarious. Because of the uneven footing of the path, Zelda’s foot caught on a rock and she fell. The potion she was carrying flew and hit Sidon. He quickly shrunk back down to his normal size, still large though, and everything seemed alright. Zelda stood up and carefully ran up to them. 

“I am so sorry!” She cried, “twice in one day…”

“No worries, Princess,” Sidon looked around, “wait, where’s Link?”

They all simultaneously realized that Wild was missing. It was Four who found him and pointed at Sidon’s foot, where a tiny Wild was pouting. 

“You’re never allowing me in a lab again, are you,” Zelda picked up her knight, trying not to laugh. 

Oh, well, she’ll fix this later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this was shorter than normal!


	17. In the Shadows of the Mind

Who. The f*ck. Was Wolfie. 

The thought had been on his mind constantly since he first met this odd ball of a group. Explosions were in his face every other second and there was a constant barrage of introductions to new powers. It was almost enough to drive him crazy. Still, nothing could distract him from the question. 

“Where’s Wolfie?” Wind looked to Wild, around a month into their journey, “I haven’t seen him in a while.”

Wild shrugged, “he comes and goes.”

Was Wolfie his dog? He never had a dog with him. Maybe it was a stray and he just missed it. 

Until after he came back from cleaning up after a battle one day. 

“Did you see T-Wolfie?” Four stuttered to everyone, “he jumped right in front of me to stop an attack and ran off, injured.”

Stupid mutt, he thought, how is it not dead yet. 

Over time, the mentions of this pet of Wild’s grew more and more, but how it was brought up was different. At first, the questions were where was the wolf, now they were questioning its health when it got hurt. 

Strange, but still stranger was the fact that, in a year, he had never encountered this ‘Wolfie’. So, who the heck was this dog? This was the question on Twilight’s mind.

Eventually, curiosity got the better of him. He wanted to meet this creature and, besides, he was always a sucker for dogs. He went up to Wild while everyone was away hunting and asked. 

“Who’s this Wolfie?” Twilight raised an eyebrow. 

Wild looked at him, shocked, “are you serious? Are you messing with me? Is this revenge for that time I covered your nose with pepper when you were asleep that one time?”

“What? No,” he paused and then glared, “you did that?”

“...no.” 

Twilight sighed, “whatever, I’m serious. I have never met your pet and I would like to.”

“You _are_ messing with me,” Wild smiled, “calling Wolfie a pet, hilarious. You can stop it now.”

“Wild, I know it’s around a lot, but I am somehow never here when it’s here.”

The Champion looked shocked, “you are serious! Did you hit your head or something?”

“No,” Twilight scrunched up his face, “why is this so weird?”

Wild shook his head, “ask someone else the same question, see their reaction.”

Twilight huffed and walked away that was pointless. He went to a nearby river where Wind was fishing lazily. At the sound of branches breaking, the sailor turned around. 

“Hi, Twilight!” Wind waved, “I thought you were helping Wild.”

He sat next to him, “I wanted ask a question.”

“Okay!”

“Who’s Wolfie? Is it Wild’s pet or something?”

“Oh,” Wind said softly, “was that a secret?”

“What was that?”

“Nothing!” He shouted, “Wolfie’s Wolfie, he’s just an ordinary wolf, no magic at all. You would like him.”

The sailor clammed up and refused to say another word. Weird. His phrasing when describing Wolfie seemed rushed, or painfully obvious that he was lying. Weirder. 

No magic involved with this wolf, that was unlikely now. He needed to ask more questions. 

So, he asked the six remaining Links. Time didn’t even look him in the eye before walking away. Warriors crossed his arms and smirked before saying that Wolfie was a “perfectly normal mutt.” Legend rolled his eyes and commented that he wasn’t being slick. Hyrule stuttered out something that sounded like “whatever Wild said.” Four just looked confused. 

Sky, the final Link, was the only useful one. He beamed and explained that Wolfie came along with Wild when he first met the hero and it seemed to disappear and reappear when it wanted. When asked about magic, Sky just said that it was a divine blessing that allowed the beast to come. 

“Thank you, Sky,” Twilight walked away, “no one else will answer my questions.”

“Yeah,” Sky looked at the ground, “hope I was of use!”

And life went on. Wolfie came and went, with Twilight inexplicably always being asleep or hunting when it did. Maybe it just hated him, divine blessing and all. He spent enough time in dark and Twili magic, maybe it could smell that on him. 

He decided that meeting Wolfie wasn’t meant to be. He was a bit disappointed, but there were more dogs in the world. Twilight smiled just thinking about some of the hounds and cats that ran wild in Ordon. He couldn’t wait to get home. 

He pushed the thought of Wolfie out of his mind. The next time he even heard mention of it was a month later. He was walking back from buying something in the nearby village and saw everyone gathered around Wild and the fire. 

“Wild,” Legend rubbed his forehead, “control your _pet_. He’s giving me a headache.”

Pet? Was Wolfie in trouble?

“Don’t call him that,” Wild said, “it’s demeaning.”

“And he’s annoying!” 

“What is he playing at?” Warriors asked, “does he really think we don’t know?”

“Come on, guys,” Sky begged, “just play along, if he doesn’t want us to know, then there’s reason for him to know that we know.”

“That makes no sense,” Wind pouted, “I only pretended because I thought I was the only one who realized, but since everyone isn’t blind now, there’s no point.”

“Time,” Four looked up to their leader, “what do you think?”

Time hummed, “we should tell him, lying only causes separation.”

“How’d he ever think that this was a secret,” Legend sneered, “it’s so obvious!”

Twilight walked forward, “what’s obvious?”

“Perfect timing!” He tossed his arms in the arm, “we know you’re Wolfie, we’ve known since we met you, now please stop acting like an idiot!”

“Uh, what?” Twilight sat down his stuff. 

Legend groaned, “you: wolf. Us: aware. This: painful.”

“What he means to say is,” Wild elbowed his fellow hero in the stomach, “you don’t have to hide that you can change into a wolf anymore.”

“Yeah!” Four nodded, “it isn’t the weirdest ability any if us have. There’s no reason to be ashamed of it.”

Twilight leaned to the side, “I legitimately have no idea what you are talking about. I’m Wolfie? I think I would know if I could shape shift. Sky told me that it was a divine beast that hung around Wild.”

“I didn’t lie,” Sky spoke up, “I just assumed that’s how you transformed, with the help of the Goddesses, and you do hang out with Wild a lot.”

“Cut the act,” Warriors pleaded. 

“I will when there’s an act to cut,” he shouted back, “I am not a wolf! Time, you believe this?”

Time was silent for a second, giving Twilight a sense of dread. 

“I have seen it for myself,” he admitted, “you’ve changed in front of me, but I don’t think you knew I was there. For that, I am sorry.”

What? He stepped back, how?

“I hate magic and its use,” he argued, “I couldn’t possibly use something like that as often as y’all claim that Wolfie appears.”

“That’s just a cover,” Legend deflected, “a way for us not to suspect you. It failed, clearly.”

“If you aren’t a wolf,” Warriors began, “then how’d you survive the Twilight? I’ve experienced a less powerful version of its magic than you would have, but even only I could enter it with the Triforce of Courage. How’d you survive full immersion?”

“Same as you, then,” he raised his right hand, “the Triforce protected me.”

“By changing you into a wolf?”

“No!” His vision blurred, “I also...I had...help...”

_If you want my help, you have to be a good boy and do as I say._

_Fierce, hehe, like a wolf! Fitting, I guess. Onward, Little Wolf!_

_You are a strange pup, aren’t you?_

_I thought it was cats that had nine lives, not dogs._

_You’re back to normal...great. I think I preferred how you looked in the Twilight._

Twilight suddenly fell to his knees and muttered, “Midna...”

If anyone was speaking or moving, he didn’t know. He was lost in a trance and wasn’t aware of his surroundings. He almost bolted when Wild put a hand on his shoulder. 

“It’s okay,” it was weird seeing his ward act like the mentor, “we aren’t afraid of Wolfie.”

Something in Twilight snapped. He stood upright and did the one thing that his scattered mind could process: he ran. He ran away from Wild, away from the other Heroes, into the forest and into the fading sun.

Where was he going? How fast was he running? Why was he running? He had no answers and he eventually collapsed on the ground in pain. He curled into a ball and grabbed his head, trying to block unheard noises. 

_Look what the Twilight did to you!_

What did it do? He was human, not a wolf!

_No! No biting, and no barking either._

Midna, what happened? She knew, she knew everything. 

_A MONSTER!_

He wasn’t a monster, was he? Everyone back home loved him, they wouldn’t hurt him. 

_You have turned into a Divine Beast._

That can’t be right. Wild’s Hyrule was the one with Divine Beasts. 

_A wolf with blue eyes? Strange._

He whimpered pathetically, make it stop! He didn’t remember any of this. 

_Hi, Wolfie! You wanna see a new trick I learned? You’re gonna love it. It’s called shield surfing._

Cub...

He couldn’t take it anymore, the pain, whether imagined or real, grew too much and he passed out. His body went limp as the sun was completely buried under the earth.

When he awoke, a million things hit him at once. The air had so many scents and he could see the farthest mountains. His muscles ached, yet they never felt stronger. He breathed heavily and took it all in. 

Why was he called the Hero of Twilight? Because he had embraced what laid between the light and dark, not being destroyed by it like others, and became more powerful. The reason the future of Hyrule would claim the titles of Divine Beasts and why the Twili praised the fiercest of creatures was his very existence. 

He stood up as a wolf and remembered everything. 

The wall of magic, the castle dungeon, the Princess. Ordon Province, a light spirit, the temple. Faron, Eldin, Lanayru. The Fused Shadow, the Master Sword, the mirror. The Twilight Realm, Ganondorf, the goodbye. 

He remembered it all. 

Midna was the one to awake him and he couldn’t believe it. He, an ordinary rancher who had never been outside of his town, was a monster that needed to save the world. She, at first, was cruel to him, but over time they were friends. She made him feel not like a monster. 

Then he became human again and again and again, having to constantly shift between his two forms. He loved it! It gave him freedom to explore and destroy; perhaps Midna had rubbed off on his him. 

But, she said goodbye, destroyed the mirror, and he would never see her again. He fell into despair and searched for away to meet her, somehow ending up in his Cub’s Hyrule. He was initially upset, though he soon became protective of his feral hero. 

He traveled with him everywhere, forgetting about his pains and woes. At some point he even forgot he had a mission and...that’s where it must have happened.

He was so angry at Midna for leaving, as well as sad, and it was making him miserable. He shoved those feelings deep down and locked any memory associated with them away. The majority of their time together was when he was a wolf, so he forgot he ever was one. Even with Wild, that seemed like another life. 

Before, he only recalled being in the Twilight for a short time and never had met his ward before this adventure. He would black out randomly and then wake up in his bed roll, so he thought he had just fallen asleep.  

The best way to describe it would have been a split personality. Link, the rancher human that was roughed up in the war, and the wolf, an evil mass that was kinder than any living Hylian, were their own beings. A Jekyll and Hyde situation that survived into meeting the Links. 

What now?

He looked around steadily. It was still nighttime and, judging by the moon in the sky, it was midnight. He glanced at the path that he had made running there. 

He could go back, but what would the others think? They said they were fine with the wolf part of him, but they also thought he was lying about not knowing about his power. Would they call him a fraud? Mock him? Call him weak when the realized that he forgot the majority of his mission because of how he couldn’t handle the loss of the love of his life?

He wanted to laugh, how did his mind break as badly as Wild’s. Wild was a blank slate that could be written on with his old memories, but Twilight was fractured. Fractured like the mirror that got him into this situation.

And he did it deliberately. He chose to forget and that made him responsible for gathering the pieces. After what happened with Ilia, he thought he was an expert on memory loss. Turned out he had a lot to learn. 

He shifted his body to point back to camp. He needed to go back, they were probably worried about him. It was time to stop running away from his problems and face them head on. 

He got ready to pounce and, as if by instinct, he bolted. Even without full awareness of his body, Twilight could tell he spent a long time in that form, as he moved perfectly. He remembered the excitement of running that fast, daring anyone to try to catch him. 

Against his judgment, his emotions got the better of him and he howled into the night sky. It was good to be back. 

He skidded to a half when he made to the outskirts of camp. His courage faded a little and he morphed back, but he still stepped forward. Wild was the first to see him. 

“Twilight!” He shouted and ran over, hugging him, “the others went out looking for you. I’m so sorry for-“

He stopped speaking when Twilight hugged him back harder. 

“Cub,” he cried, “I’m sorry.”

Wild gasped, “you remember? I was sure that that was in the future for you.”

“No,” he shook his head, “I’m sorry for forgetting you when I was supposed to help you remember.”

“It’s alright,” Wild smiled softly, “whatever the case was, it’s fine. At least we’re both here.”

“ _We_ are here,” Twilight nodded sadly, “we are...”


	18. Mother, I Have Gone Astray

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part one of two.

“For personal reasons, I am now atheist,” Legend proclaimed to the ceiling.

The Links all sat up groggily. The last thing they saw was a bright golden light that filled their surroundings and brought them from the forests to this cushy dining room. They had never traveled that way before, so they had no idea what they were dealing with. 

“Where are we?” Wind asked. 

Legend patted out his skirt as he stood up, “my home, this is the castle’s dining room.”

“Fancy,” Twilight commented, “I thought you lived in a shack?”

He glared, “I only come here on holidays and at my sister’s request.”

Speak of the devil, because two oak doors opened to reveal the small form of Princess Zelda, elder twin sibling to Legend. She beamed at the sight of her brother and ran in. 

“I knew I heard something,” she hugged him, “you’re back! Perfect timing.”

“Uh, Zelda,” Legend tried to push away from her, “too tight. What do you mean perfect timing?”

She stopped and started twiddling her fingers, “well, considering how you were brought here, you should know.”

Legend slapped his face and muffled a few curse words. Wind looked proud at some of the stuff he taught him from the pirates. 

“What’s happening?” Time asked. 

Zelda gestured back to the doors, “Mother’s home.”

“Wait, mother?” Hyrule’s voice filled with disbelief, “like your mother, Legend’s mother? She’s here?”

“You have a mother who’s alive?” Warriors pointed to Legend. 

“Sadly,” he grumbled. 

Zelda hit him in the side, “don’t say that! Mother has done everything for us-“

“Everything for you,” he argued, “meanwhile I had to fix her messes. She’s the reason I had to live with my uncle and didn’t know of you for years.”

The group sensed a lot of tension built up, and a very shaky family history. Legend looked like he wanted to bolt out a window and Zelda was trying her best to keep most of her feelings in. 

“Link,” she grabbed his hand, “come on, she’s been waiting for you.”

He pulled away, “tell her sorry, that I’m in Lorule or something. Tell her or I tell her that you are in an illegal fighting ring. Again.”

“It’s not illegal anymore!” She shouted before collecting herself, “besides, Mother already knows you are here, that’s why she brought your friends. She wants to meet them.”

“Fine,” Legend jutted his head to tell the rest of the confused group to follow. 

Who was their mother? That was the question on everyone’s mind. A witch? A sorcerer? How did they bring them here?

“So,” Wild tried to make conversation as they walked down a hallway, “what does your mother do?”

Zelda smiled and said “Everything!” at the same time Legend muttered “Nothing.”

Enlightening. The Princess realized the awkward silence was because of them being vague, so she tried to resolve everything. Or, ease their worries, because when was anything easy to resolve. 

“You’ll see when you meet her,” she explained, “Mother is away a lot, doing things, so when she comes home it’s special! Sky, I think you’ll really like her.”

“Me?” Sky pointed to himself. Now he was really curious, was their mom like Impa or something? That would explain Legend’s reaction to her; she wasn’t exactly the kindest. It could work, considering the time travel that the Sheikah was adept at showing off. 

While Sky was lost in thought, the group came to an even larger set of doors: the throne room. Legend slowly backed away. 

“Maybe she doesn’t have to meet the others,” he stuttered out, “we wouldn’t want to bother them with one of our family fights.”

Zelda rolled her eyes, “quit being so dramatic! She’ll love them!”

“That’s what I’m worried about!”

His sister ignored him and she opened up the doors.

“Oh?” A woman, on what was supposed to be Princess Zelda’s throne, gasped, “Oracle, thank you, darling, you brought Legend and his friends!”

“Oracle?” Hyrule questioned. 

“Legend?” Four focused on. 

“You think I didn’t have this nickname before I met you?” Legend slumped over to his mother, who was now standing. 

They could all see her clearly. They couldn’t pin point her age, as she looked young, yet had some maturity to her. She wore a long white gown that had intricate details sewn and cut into the fabric. Her hair was golden and was flowing behind her, part of it being tied into a braid that rested on her head like a crown. Her smile was bright and so were her eyes, a mix of blue and green that made it almost grey. 

“Hey, mom,” Legend crossed his arms, “why are we here?”

His mother picked him up, making everyone realize that she was seven feet tall, and swung him around in a hug, “I am so happy to see you again, my little Hero!”

“I hate this family!” He shouted. 

“Wow, I can’t believe Legend’s a rebellious teenager,” Warriors smirked and then looked at Sky, “are you okay over there?”

“Huh-huh,” Sky was hyperventilating, “Hylia?”

Legend’s mom, *Hylia*, stopped her hug and dropped her son like a rock at the sight of the Hero of the Skies. Her eyes widened and she quickly ran over to him. Sky tried not to quake at the towering sight of his Goddess hanging above him. 

“Link,” she bent down slowly, “it’s been so, so long.”

Gently, she kissed Sky on the head and everyone lost their minds. 

Hyrule immediately stared at Legend, looking for answers, but got none. Warriors dropped into a bow while internally yelling at the world. Four just nodded vaguely as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Twilight covered his face, why must his life be so complicated! Wild waved at the goddess, who waved back. Wind was starstruck at the sight of her. Finally, Time was emotionless as ever.

“H-how?” Sky stuttered, “L-legend, your son?”

Hylia chuckled, “we lived a long life together, but, after my mortal form passed, I became a goddess once more. Time passed, and my old bloodline...”

She glanced at Time. Her face tried to say sorry, but he didn’t even acknowledge her presence. Too long had he bowed down to a god who was never there, he wasn’t going to start bowing when she showed up. 

“My old bloodline died out,” she continued, “but a mortal with the powers of light needed to exist to defeat Ganon, so that’s where my children come in. Oracle was the Princess that was needed, Legend was a happy surprise!”

“That’s code for,” Legend sneered, “‘let’s force him to be raised in poverty and then make him do all my chores.’”

“Why do you call your kids Oracle and Legend, your Grace?” Wild asked, “why not Princess Zelda and Link?”

Hylia patted Sky on the shoulder and looked to Wild, “as the Goddess of Time, I oversee all that has and will happen, so I know of all the different incarnations of the Hero and the Princess. Oracle and Legend are the names that history will remember them by, so that’s what I call them to avoid confusion. And you don’t have to call me ‘your Grace,’ Wild.”

Wild blushed at the last bit as she looked to the youngest hero.

“I have always wanted to meet you, Wind!” She sat down and crossed her legs, so she came up to Wind’s face. 

“You know me?” He bounced up and down. 

“Yeah,” Legend leaned on his head, “didn’t you know. Even though she’s my mother, you’re her favorite. She never shuts up about you when she comes home. ‘Oh, the Hero of Winds isn’t even a reincarnation, he claimed the title through courage alone!’”

“Link!” Zelda smacked him, “that was uncalled for.”

Hylia shook her head, “no matter what you think, I still love you, Son. I am just proud of all the things Wind has accomplished!”

“Thank you!” Wind, regardless of what Legend was saying, was happy. This was a god who told him that they were proud of him. That was so awesome!

“Yearly checkup complete!” Legend stormed off, “good riddance, mom, see you next year.”

“Legend-“ Hylia stood up and tried to stop her son, but he was too fast with his pegasus boots and he slammed the doors behind him. 

“I’ll go get him, Mother,” Zelda started to walk when Hylia put a hand out to stop her. 

“No, it’s alright,” she sighed, “this is better than last time, thankfully. I am so sorry you all had to witness this, and sorry that I brought you here. I just really wanted to meet you all and this is the time I am allowed to see my children again.”

“It’s alright,” Sky waved off, “Legend’s just had a bad day.”

She shook her head, “it’s my fault. Even with all my powers, I cannot defeat my sister’s champion, Din would cause more destruction than Ganon ever could if that happened. I needed my own champions. I’m sorry that burden fell onto you and your brother, Oracle.”

“I have made my peace with it,” Zelda explained, “I am glad to be of service to my kingdom and to my Mother.”

“Thank you,” Hylia took her daughter’s hand, “now, do I need to worry about the illegal fighting ring?”

“It’s not illegal! There are actual rules now!”

“Only joking,” she pinched her cheeks, “just be sure to show them what Hylians are made of. I never liked that Master that organized the events.”

Zelda bid her mother farewell and went off to do something. That left the goddess with eight of the Links. 

“Should we find Legend?” Twilight looked to Wild. 

“It’s too late,” Hylia explained, “he’s ran off to Lorule, it’s where he goes to sulk. I have no power over that place, so I can’t bring him back here unless he wants to.”

“Oh.”

She looked outside to see the fading sun, “I must go soon. The other gods only give me one day a year to see my children, which is the same rule they are given in return.”

“It was an honor to meet you,” Warriors bowed once more. 

“Likewise,” she gestured to the door, “you all need to leave so that I can depart. Please tell my son that I love him, I really do.”

“Of course,” Sky agreed. 

She kissed him on the head one more time, “it was great seeing you again, Link. I think you’ll like what your future has in store.”

“Bye, Zelda ,” he whispered back and left with the other Links. 

Just before everyone made it out though, Hylia called out to the eldest. 

“Hero of Time, may I speak with you for a moment?”

With a grunt, and a few worried glances, Time stayed behind. The door shut behind him and he looked up at the goddess. 

“Is there something you need, your Grace,” he gritted his teeth. He tried to remember the training that he was given when he became captain of the royal guard, he had to be civil. 

“I would like to apologize,” she stated, “you had your life taken away because of my failure to stop Demise. I instructed the Master Sword that I did not want children to wield it, but I don’t think Fi understood my meaning.”

Time’s eyes knitted together, was she saying that the seven years he was asleep was an accident. He was starting to dislike this Fi much more. 

“How come, then,” Time glared, “ate Wind, Wild, Hyrule, and your own son wielders of the blade, all at a young age.”

She laughed sadly, “it’s funny, is it not? That as the Goddess of Time, I cannot control when my champion’s come of age. It’s not funny, I know.

“After my mistake with you, I needed to allow children to fight, or else there would be more timeline splits and problems caused from forcing them to be older. But, I wanted to give them a chance to be free. Fi was put asleep and all of her commands disabled, anyone could wield her if they were strong enough. It’s just that the Hero’s Spirit is drawn to her first.”

The sun was almost completely gone.

“I know it’s not worth much,” she admitted, “but I never wanted any of this to happen. I can offer something in return, to make up even a tiny amount of what you have given me.”

Time thought for a moment, “I want to be able to help future generations.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” he stepped forward, “out there is my descendant, as you well know, and I know that this cycle will never end. I want to be able to help him when his time comes, so no one has to learn by trial and error like I had.”

Hylia tilted her head, “I knew you would say that. Don’t worry, you will be able to help Twilight, and he in turn will help Wild. You will be able to leave anytime from this, if you wish, though.”

He nodded, “one more thing, do I ever find her?”

She looked shocked at the question, “Time... Navi, she doesn’t want to be found.”

“Why?” He opened his blind eye in anger, the blankness staring at the goddess. 

“It would hurt you even more if you knew,” she begged him not to push. 

“Tell me!”

“It’s because you’re not a Kokiri!” Hylia vanished when the moon started to rise in a blast of light, leaving a very tired, lonely Time.


	19. Turn out all the Lights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 2

Legend and Time were both in a sour mood after the encounter with Hylia. Legend swore randomly and hit every tree they came across while Time was even more silent than usual. They all understood what Malon meant by that silence. 

The others were still processing the fact that Hylia was Legend’s mom. Wouldn’t that make Sky, who in the future, or the past, marries a reincarnation of Hylia, Legend’s step father? Sky was feeling weird just thinking about it. 

Currently, they were trudging through a forest in Legend’s world. After two days he returned from Lorule and Hylia never transported them back to where they were, so they were wondering around. 

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Wild teased, “I thought you liked being on a path.”

“I thought you liked being alive!” Legend snapped, “I know where I’m going. We’re heading to Holodrum.”

“Why?” Wind asked. 

“We need to talk to the Oracle of Ages, who lives in Labrynna, and the only way to there is through Holodrum or on a boat. I am never stepping foot on another boat as long as I live, so we are walking.”

“Walking across two countries?” Sky moaned, “seriously?”

“Why don’t you use your god powers,” Warriors matched Wild’s energy of annoyance, “you have those, don’t you? As Hylia’s child?”

“You know what?” He growled, “I do!“

The others backed away as Legend’s hands glowed and he vanished right before their eyes. He had never shown this ability before, probably because of its divine origins, so it shocked everyone. Twilight glared at Legend. 

“Really, Warriors?” He chastised and looked at Wild, “you, too! We’ve lost our only guide for this world.”

“Where’d he go?” Hyrule wondered in amazing, he was always a sucker for good magic. 

“Probably back to whine about his mommy,” Warriors ignored Twilight’s complaints, “ow!”

Legend materialized over Warriors head and fell down on him. Hard. If Warriors didn’t have such a think skull, in Legend’s opinion, he would’ve been dead. 

“Stop bringing up my mother,” he stood up and continued walking, like nothing happened, “or you will regret it.”

They walked, all the while giving each other glances. All of them took note of the light that was still shining through Legend’s hands. Wild, Wind, and Time recognized it as the same power that Zelda wielded, so they knew how dangerous it could be. 

Their path was blocked after a couple days travel. The woods created a solid block of trees that were 100 feet tall and were impenetrable. Wild brought out some flame arrows before this were confiscated by Twilight. 

“What now?” Four looked for an entrance, “it’d take forever to get up there.”

Legend smirked, “for you, maybe, short stack. This is the border to Holodrum, also the reason why our two countries never communicated much before I went there.”

Without further explanation, Legend raised his had and waved it around. Magic poured out and the trees in front of them shrunk back into saplings. He payed no mind at everyone’s faces at the sight. If he was to be honest, it was liberating to be able to use the full extent of his powers again. He grimaced at the thought of giving her the satisfaction of him using it, though. 

It took another week to make it to where Legend said was their halfway point. Everyone groaned and complained, but he took nothing of it. Instead, he lead them to a band of performers in the middle of the town they were in. For the first time in a week, he smiled. 

“Din!” He called out to a dancer dressed in all red. 

“Din?” Sky choked. Before he would have ruled out her name as a coincidence, but now... he was going to die if that was one of the Golden Goddesses. 

The dancer, Din, beamed at the sight of Legend and fire erupted around her. She waved goodbye to her troop and the people watching and backflipped over to them. 

“Cousin!” She shouted and smacked him on the back, “what brings you here?”

He sighed, “I was on a mission, but someone derailed it. We’re heading for Labrynna.”

Din pursed her lips, getting the hidden meaning, “well, you’re in luck. My mom was here yesterday, so you don’t have to worry about running into her. Now, who are your friends?”

“I’m Wind!” Wind introduced and then asked bluntly, “are you another goddess?”

Din laughed and snorted when she saw Legend’s glare. She shook her head and explained. 

“The name’s are confusing, yes,” she admitted, “but I’m not that Din. She’s... do they know about..?”

“Sadly,” Legend said, “dear old mother wanted to meet them in person.”

“An honor,” she replied sarcastically, “anyway, Din’s my mom. I’m like my cousin over here! Though, more proud of my heritage.”

“That’s so cool,” Wind shouted. 

Din shrugged, “not much to it. By the way, Farore has been looking for you. Something about you stealing her book?”

“TIME TO GO!” He shouted suddenly and ran away with Din’s cackles following after him.

He didn’t actually leave, only running off to the edge of town. The group spent two days in town and Din was happy to show some of them her magic. She also took it in stride their connection and story. 

“Must have been why mom wasn’t happy yesterday,” she nodded, “she never liked any of you. You all kept killing her champions.”

“Feelings mutual,” Warriors muttered, “except for Lana.”

After they rested and hit the road again, Legend kept looking over his shoulder. He mentioned something about secrets hiding in the trees. He was going crazy, Wild was sure of it, because he didn’t even have koroks in his time. 

“So,” Hyrule rocked back and forth, “there are others like you?”

“What. Did I. Say?” He bit back before sighing, “all of the gods decided that they needed to have children to protect what was left of this failure of a country. Before I fixed everything, things were pretty bad.”

“And they’re all your cousins?”

He nodded, “they’re the only good part of this whole demigod nonsense. Except for Farore-“

“I heard that!” A high pitch voice wailed and dropped out of a tree that was along their path. 

“I KNEW IT!” Legend screeched and tried to crawl away as a small child held onto to his leg, not letting him go. 

“Give me my book!” The child yelled, “why are you so mean to me, Link?”

“Because you’re a menace,” he kicked at her with his freed foot, but wasn’t having any luck.

“Who’s this?” Twilight knelt down and helped Legend. He grabbed the child and held her up on his shoulder. 

With a clear sight, the Links saw that the girl was about five years old and was very energetic. She had vivid green hair in twin buns and a sun dress decorated with flowers. She looked annoyed at being suddenly picked up. 

“My name is Farore!” She proclaimed proudly, “I am the Oracle of Secrets! He has my book...”

She stuck her tongue out at Legend. Legend, being the more mature one, did the same in return. 

“Why are you out here all alone?” Twilight asked. 

Farore crossed her arms, “I live here. The trees watch out for me.”

“Her mother watches out for her by making her invisible, except to nice people,” Legend spoke, “don’t know why I can see her, but still. She’s a bit like your Kokiri, Time.”

Time remained stoic and didn’t respond. That didn’t bother Farore. 

“I like him!” She declared, “he knows how to be quiet, unlike you!”

“Likewise, imp,” Legend rolled his eyes and dug through his bag, eventually bringing out a big, moss covered book, “here you go.”

“Yes!” Farore hopped off of Twilight’s shoulder and grabbed her treasure, “where are you going, Link?”

“Meeting Nayru,” he started to walk forward. At this point, it felt like the Links were just along for the ride, but who were they to argue with demigods. 

“Nay!” She cheered, “tell her I said hi.”

“Nope!”

As they walked away, Hyrule commented, “she was nice.”

Another day of walking lead them to the border of Holodrum and Labrynna. This time, the border was marked with a flowing river. There used to be a bridge there, but it had long since been torn down. 

Once again, Legend just waved his hand. A bubble surrounded the group and anything inside of it seemed to revert to a completely different era. The bridge rematerialized in all of its former glory and they safely passed. 

“You’ve always been able to do this?” Hyrule said in awe, “this is incredible.”

Legend shrugged, “Zelda focused more on combat, whereas I focused on... timing abilities. I thought it would be more useful.”

“Then, what was that teleportation earlier?” Wild asked. 

“Just teleportation, it’s the first magic I learned.”

Finally, after traveling for around a month in total, they made it to the center of Labrynna. They walked past the capital city and headed into what they were told was the Forest of Time. Once they crossed an invisible barrier, they started hearing singing and a harp.

“Nayru!” Legend greeted a woman in blue the same way he did Din. 

“Link!” She stopped playing and looked up, “I’m sorry, but Ralph isn’t here. He’s visiting Queen-“

He interrupted her, “this is not about that. We need help getting back to the Era of the Hero of Time.”

“Why?” She stood up and looked at the others with a gasp, “are these who I think they are? Father will be so excited when I tell him they’re all here.”

“Your father’s here?!” Legend backed away in fear. 

Nayru smiled, “he’s coming tomorrow.”

She looked to the Links and bowed, “my apologies for not introducing myself. My name is Nayru, I am the Oracle of Ages, and my father is Nayru.”

“Oh, okay,” Four waved, “hel- wait, what,”

“Did you say father?” Sky thought he misheard. 

“Yes,” Nayru knitted her eyebrows together, “did you not know of my father? I thought that is why you would come to me.”

“They’re from a different time,” Legend waved off her question, “most of them only know Nayru as the *Goddess* of Wisdom.”

“Oh,” she understood, “then that was my fault. My father thinks it would be simple minded to not experience everything in existence, so he didn’t want to be regulated to one gender. He used to be female, but, in my life, he is male.”

Time nodded, he now knew where his Zelda must have gotten their tendencies. As Nayru’s champion, it made a little sense that they would both share similarities, like being genderfluid.

“Fair enough,” Wild agreed.

“Now,” Nayru continued on, “you need to make it to the Era of the Hero of Time? Why didn’t you just ask Hyl-“

“I don’t need her!” Legend growled, quickly putting on a polite smile, “plus, I just wanted to see my cousins again.”

Nayru didn’t believe him, “well, I’m sorry, but my powers are not as precise as Hylia’s. I can definitely get you to the Era of the Hero of the Four Swords, but that’s a couple hundred off of where you want to be.”

“I’d be fine with it,” Four raised his hand. 

“We need to get back to Time’s Hyrule,” Legend shook his head, “that’s where our enemy is.”

“Then you’ll have to ask Hylia. The gods are allowed to help us if it’s quick.”

“I wanna die,” he slammed his head into his hands.

“Overdramatic as always, Link,” Nayru patted him on the head, “Ralph would be proud. I’ll tell him you visited.”

“Thanks,” he drawled, but he actually meant it. He hadn’t seen Ralph in a long time, a shame that he wasn’t there. Nayru bid them farewell. 

He looked to the group, “do any of you have something connected to Hylia?”

Not surprisingly, both Wild and Sky held something connected to the goddess. Wild had a tiny statue of her and Sky proposed his sail cloth. Legend took the statue and place in on the ground. Begrudgingly, he started to pray. 

“Dear mom,” he spat, “since you’re the reason we’re stuck here, could you *please* help us out? Or do I need to kneel down even lower?”

“There’s no reason to use that tone,” Hylia appeared before them and frowned, “I am happy to help.”

“Hi, Hylia!” Wind waved up at her, and she waved back. 

“Great,” Legend rubbed his hands together, “send us back.”

She looked sad, “if you had continued on your training you could have been able to do this yourself.”

“Yeah,” he replied, “but then I would’ve had to listen to you.”

She forced a smile, “what if we used this as a learning opportunity. I can teach you and then you and your friends can travel to any time you see fit!”

“We’re good, thanks.”

“Legend-“

“DON’T CALL ME THAT!” Legend roared. In a split second, he became furious and he snapped the statue in his hand in half, “THAT IS NOT MY NAME!”

Hylia looked taken aback, “I-I’m sorry.”

“My name is Link!” He shouted, “the name Legend is nothing but a reminder that I am worth nothing to you. Why do I matter when there are tons of other Links that you care more about.”

“I love you-“

“No!” Legend stomped his foot, “you need me. You loved the First Hero, the Hero of the Skies. You never loved me or else you wouldn’t have tossed me out!”

The group backed away in concern. Legend was riled up and he was starting to glow softly, his magic building up. 

“At least the other gods care about their kids,” he continued, “Farore makes sure her daughter’s safe, Din made sure her’s was well off, Nayru engages with his’. You didn’t even talk to me until I was 18!”

“Leg- Link,” Hyrule called out to him, “calm down!”

“NO!” He blasted the ground with magic, the grass fossilizing beneath his feet, “you want to know why I stopping training? Because when Zelda learned, you praised her, when I learned you thought it was a requirement. I don’t need your power to do my job that you so generously gave me.”

“Link,” Hylia bent down, “I was always proud with your strides in magic. I just thought you were more into studying and traveling, so I wanted to encourage that. Your sister loved learning magic, on the other hand. I am so sorry-“

“Save it,” Legend silenced her, “and then you had the audacity to drag me her against my will, I was traveling, but you pulled me away from that!”

Suddenly, a flash of multi colored lightning shot across the sky. It was a mix of red, green, and blue and it caused dark clouds to roll in. 

Legend huffed, “you have to go now? So sad. Send us back and never talk to me again. I’d rather be stuck in a time far away then see you for one more second, since this is all you can spare.”

“What can I do to fix this?” Hylia begged. 

“Give me the triforce,” he replied with snark, “I don’t care.”

She stood up to her full height, “alright.”

“Wait, what?” Legend calmed down enough that his magic stopped swirling.

Hylia said nothing more as she closed her eyes. Everyone felt a power surge as the triforce materialized in the goddess’ hands. With a kind smile, she outstretched her hand and gesture for Legend to take the holy relic. 

“Is that it?” Wild leaned forward to take a closer look, “is that allow?”

Twilight shushed him, “she’s the protector of the triforce, she can do whatever she wants with it.”

“Are you serious?” Legend looked at the familiar sight, “is this a joke?!”

Hylia shook her head, “after all the times placed your hand on the triforce, you never had the chance to wish for what you truly desired. Take it.”

With wide eyes, the demigod reached forward. The relic floated over to his control and he looked at it with the same fear and wonderment he did when he was just 12 years old. 

“When I sent you to live with your uncle,” Hylia said, “I knew you wouldn’t want to be cramped up in a castle your whole life, so I thought you would have been happier in Hyrule.”

“I don’t know how Zelda did it,” he mumbled 

“What do you wish for, Son.”

Legend closed his eyes, “I- I...”

He looked up at his mother and said in a soft voice, “I just wish we were a family.”

Her eyes watered with joy, “then it is done.”

The triforce floated high into the air and exploded into golden shards. Everyone was blinded and when they could see again, Hylia was before them, but different. 

She no longer wore her white robes, but instead wore a brown commoner’s dress. Her hair was still gold, but it lost its shine. She shrunk down and now stood a couple inches taller than Legend. Her eyes was radiant, but not with power, with the love of her children. 

“Hylia,” Sky stuttered, “are you?”

“I am mortal once again,” she took Legend’s hands, “I have none of my powers, you’re more god than me. Now, I can stay here for this life, not even the other gods can argue with the will of the triforce.”

“I don’t believe it,” Legend closed his eyes, “you wouldn’t, you have to protect the country-“

“You did a fine job of that already,” Hylia hugged her son, “I will stay here with you.”

“But,” he slowly hugged back, “I still have a mission, we have to leave.”

“Then I will be here when you come back,” she whispered, “*my* little Hero.”

They hugged for a little bit longer, but, when finished, Hylia taught her son how to travel through time. As she watched her son fade away, she saw Legend smile at her for the first time in years. 

Hylia was truly blessed, and she started her long trek home with joy in her heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hylia is trying her best gosh darnit! Also, after Legend and Marin, Ralph and Legend is the best ship.


	20. Empathy

“If everyone doesn’t shut up this instant,” Legend pulled at his hair, “I will kill all of you!”

A pleasant day for the Links, that was to be sure. Considering the fact that no one was talking, two of them were missing, and the rest were in varying states of panic and confusion, it would not be far fetched to say that they all collectively went insane. 

“Legend!” Hyrule was freaking out, he needed to help his friend, “are you okay? What’s going on!”

A stream of curse words spewed out of Legend’s mouth and Hyrule started fidgeting at an alarming rate. 

So, how did the Chosen Heroes of Hylia come to such a sorry state? Who knows, they were in Warrior’s time and the wizards there loved to mess with any passerby’s. 

Regardless of why it was happening, it needed to be fixed. Every single member of the group magically collapsed and stood up with an ailment that was familiar to at least one of them.

“This is weird,” Wind stated as he wobbled around. Gone was the 13-year-old in pajamas and in his place was a 20-year-old pirate, complete with a whispy beard and him being over a foot taller. 

“You’re telling me,” Four was leaning against a tree for support and was breathing heavily. 

“What is this?” Twilight couldn’t move, every slightest movement he did caused the air around him to stir. When he first stood up, he was launched fifteen feet in the air, and, when he took one step, he had his feet swept up from under him. “What magic is this, Warriors? Uh, Warriors?”

He slowly moved his head around, careful not to blow hair in his face, and saw that Warriors was one of the missing two. Wild was the other one.

Twilight sighed, “great!”

Even more great was the fact that his sigh caused a miniature tornado to blow out of his mouth. It kicked up some pollen in the air and he almost sneezed, but he dared not think of what that would cause. 

Sky noticed Four’s heavy breathing and wanted to help, so he walked over there. 

“Breathe,” Sky suggested calmly, “slowing...in...and out...”

“I’m trying!” Four snapped and then started to cough, “I-I can’t, I can’t hear-“

“You need to stop talking,” Sky reassured, “it’ll only hurt-“

“I AM FINE!” Another coughing fit. 

Sky huffed at the sudden outburst and stomped his feet. There was a popping noise and he looked down to see that his kick caused a crack in the rock they stood on.

“Be quiet!” Legend hissed and Hyrule was holding his hands to stop him from pulling out his hair. 

Twilight looked to the only sane person he’d talked to in the last year: Time. Too bad today wasn’t a normal day, he cursed. 

Time was sitting on a rock, staring blankly into the distance. Twilight slowly waved his hand in front of his face and he got no response, not even when the wind pushed his hair back. It was like he wasn’t even there. 

“Time?” He asked, “are you okay?”

He finally got a reaction as his mentor looked up at him with innocence in his eyes, “who’s Time?”

Twilight felt himself deflate, “oh, goddesses, not again!”

“Where am I?” Time asked, looking around, “who are you?”

“I’m Twilight,” he should not have had to deal with this situation three different times in his life, “I’m a friend, and so are all of these people. You’re safe.”

“Are you going to protect me?”

His voice was so fragile, it made Twilight hurt. Unaware of the situation at hand and willing to blindly follow anyone as long as they were there for him. It was like how he remembered Wild when he first woke- wait a minute!

He smiled softly, “I’ll do my best. Wind?”

The newly turned adult tripped on his foot and slammed into the ground. He sat up slightly and looked over at him. 

“Yeah?”

“I can’t exactly move without causing a hurricane,” Twilight explained, “and you’re the only one left standing, so you need to find Warriors and Wild.”

“Alright!” And Wind clumsily ran through the trees.

“You have a theory?” Four asked, hand on his chest. 

Twilight nodded, “considering that I control wind, Time has amnesia, and you have asthma, I think it’s a high chance that we all switched powers.”

“Then what the f*ck is going on with me?!” Legend growled, “this is more like a curse than a power with whatever this nonsense is.”

“I don’t know,” Twilight responded, “it’s just a theo-“

His voice stopped as Wind came running back. 

“I found them!” He cheered, “at least, I think I did.”

Following close behind him was a tiny blue fairy and a great silver wolf.

Twilight stared at the wolf and thought, “there’s goes my secret.”

“Puppy!” Time shouted and rushed to the wolf. The wolf looked apprehensive, but tensely let him pet his long tail. 

“So, uh,” the fairy flittered over to Twilight, “this is not the strangest thing to happen to me.”

As the fairy approached, Twilight could see the outline of a person in the middle of the glowing light. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the fairy was a nonchalant Wild. 

“Wild?” He gasped and immediately regretted it as wind pushed the fairy back a little. 

“Warriors says this might be the work of Cia,” he flew back to him, “something about incapacitating us.”

The wolf, Warriors, barked harshly, though he did try not to scare Time. 

“Fine,” Wild groaned, “Warriors says that Cia might’ve been trying to switch our bodies, but only switched a part of our- what? Character traits? What are we, static characters in a bad novel?”

Warriors nodded. 

“Weird lady,” he responded.

Twilight had to agree, “I have seemed to have gotten Wind’s powers.”

He waved his hand to demonstrate. 

“I, uh, I have,” Four walked over, “I have Sky’s asthma.”

“Time has your amnesia,” Twilight added. 

“My most rememberable thing is that I forget?” Wild was insulted, “then who here caused me to be a fairy? Wait, did you say Ti-“

“N-navi,” Time stopped petting Warriors and locked eyes with the fairy. He got the blank look that Wild would get whenever he would remember something. 

“Navi?” Wild looked at himself, “no, I’m Wild.”

“Navi,” he repeated, clearly not understanding. He slowly reached out to him, trying to reach him. The pain on his face was so sad that Wild went along with it. Of what little Hyrule told them all, Time used to be very close to a guardian fairy.

Warriors barked again once Wild was settled on Time’s head, who seemed content. Wild looked at him and translated. 

“Warriors says we need to figure out what is wrong with everybody, and then maybe we could fix it.”

He smiled mischievously, “he would also like to know where Wolfie is and if he swapped powers if he was now a wolf.”

“Cub, I could break you,” Twilight glared, “kidding!”

He addressed the last bit to Time, as he protectively grabbed Wild in his hands and held him close to his chest. 

“Alright,” he looked to everyone, “gather round! Sound off with your ailments.”

Wind started, “I’m an adult? That’s not really special, considering half of you are adults. It’s cool to me, though! I have a beard!”

“Barely,” Legend smirked. 

“I’m super strong?” Sky offered. 

“I have urges and impulses to do a million things,” Hyrule kept glancing at Wild, “I can’t sit still.”

“And I have multiple voices in my head!” Legend complained, “I pity whichever one of you lives like this.”

A bark. 

Wild translated, “Warriors says that the strength is most likely from him.”

“That proud of his muscles, ey?” Legend, though in pain, clearly couldn’t keep himself from getting a few jabs in, “I thought Twilight was the strong one?”

A growl. 

“Something about how he was blessed with extreme strength, but he learned to channel it through weapons,” Wild rolled his eyes, “I still highly doubt you killed over 500 monsters at once.”

“What about me?” Hyrule fidgeted, “I’ve never seen any of you act like this, maybe Wild, but not to this extent.”

“Hey!” Wild protested and moved to sit back on Time’s head. 

“It’s me,” Legend admitted, “I have ADHD and my dumb curse is that I want to help everyone. Even though people are terrible.”

“Seriously?” Hyrule didn’t believe it, “but you’re so collected!”

“Years of acting,” Legend grimaced, “what? You think I’d travel to multiple countries on a whim because I wanted to see the world? No! I’m impatient and hear one cry for help and I have to go.”

“Oh,” Hyrule hugged him, “you’re a good person, then, if that’s your curse.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he pushed Hyrule off of him and rubbed his forehead again, “now who’s voices are these and who is a fairy?! And where’s Wolfie?”

“Wait a minute,” Four started slowly, “these abilities were kept a secret for a reason, so should we really reveal them?”

“Yes!” Legend stated bluntly, “I am in literal pain right now as four voices that sound like me fill my head! So, who. Is. This!?”

“I can go first!” Hyrule sensed the tension in the group and came to the rescue. Curse Legend’s selflessness! “I’m half fairy and can turn into one.”

“Really?” Wild snorted, “that’s sick! But how does that work?”

Hyrule shook his head, “don’t ask me.”

“You’re part fairy,” Time asked, mesmerized, “does that mean you can do magic?”

Hyrule smiled at him, “not right now, but usually I can.”

“That’s really cool, Mister.”

Four sighed, “the voices are from me.”

Legend raised an eyebrow, “you live with voices in your head constantly.”

“Yes.”

“How are you not insane?”

He shrugged, “you get used to it, right now it’s a little painful without everyone being in here with me.”

“Oh, gods,” Legend moaned, “please don’t tell me these voices are separate people!”

Four coughed again nervously, “on my adventure, I had the ability to split myself into four parts with my sword, those parts were different parts of my personality and they were called Green, Red, Blue, and Vio. Don’t judge the names, we were eight.”

“Do you have the sword on you now?” 

Four gripped his sword’s hilt, “always.”

“Give it!”

“What? No.”

Legend stood up, “I won’t break the thing, you can have it back after this mess is sorted out. I can barely think straight right now, so just give me the sword!”

Twilight looked at Four, “give him the sword, please.”

He sighed, “fine! I can’t even fight with Sky’s asthma and dizziness.”

“Thank you,” Legend took the sword by the handle, “how does this work?”

There was no explanation needed, as Legend was engulfed in a burst of shadows. When the darkness subsided, four different colored duplicates of the Hero of Legend stood in front of everybody. 

“Finally!” The green one cheered, “my headache is gone!”

“If I had to spend one more second in that idiot’s mind, I was going to explode,” the blue one crossed his arms angrily. 

“I... I don’t like this,” the red one backed away from everyone, “they’re all staring at me.”

“This is...odd,” the purple one noted. 

Each one looked like Legend, except for a key few differences. Each one’s different colored hair streak coordinated to their color instead of being pink. The purple one’s hair was completely hidden by his hat and the blue one’s belt was too loose and everything was falling out of it. The red one couldn’t look anyone in the eye as he hid in his oversized over-tunic. The green one seemed the most put together and actually wore pants.

“Legend?” Wild asked the four. 

It was a bit creepy how they all looked at him at once. He tried not to back down as they inspected each other and everyone. 

“I still stand by what we said,” the blue one spoke, “this is an absolute nightmare and, Four, you live a horrible life.”

“Gee, thanks. You know, I actually like my brothers.”

“We never said that,” the purple argued, “and it was only you who was thinking it.”

“Can’t say I’m fond of this, though,” the green one looked at his hands, “it reminds me of Hytopia a bit.”

They all shivered at once, except for the red one. 

“I...I liked that place...everyone was nice...”

“Of course you would!”

“So,” Four could recognize infighting and stopped it before it began, “while you four are here, what do you want to be called, because, believe me, calling you all Legend does not work.”

“If you name us after colors,” the blue one raised a finger, “I will never let you forget how uncreative you are.”

“Says the person who named his pet rabbit Bunny,” the green one grumbled, “this is just temporary, so we can deal.”

Four nodded, “it’s best to keep this simple, it has nothing to do with creativity. So...”

“Olive!” Time suggested, beaming, “you’re shirt is olive.”

Olive sighed, “I did say I’d take anything. Just, please, don’t call me Oli.”

“What else should they be called,” Wild floated in front of Time and encouraged him, “name the grumpy one.”

“We are nothing but grumpy and you all know it!” The blue one protested, “you don’t have to single me out.”

“I didn’t say the whiny baby in blue, now did I?” Wild stuck out his tongue, “you made that assumption all on your own. Now, Time?”

He thought hard, “Cobalt! That’s a rock, right? He’s rough like a rock!”

“Perfect,” Wild barred his tiny fangs at Cobalt, “now, the purple one.”

“I’m good,” the purple one tried to shut them down, but Time had nothing of it. 

“Mauve?” He thought, but immediately scrunched up his face, “Indigo? I know, Lavender! Those are really pretty flowers.”

Lavender shrugged. 

“And now the red one!”

At the mention of his color, the red one backed farther away. He pulled his hat, which was now more of a hood, over his face. 

“Please...stop looking at me...”

“Berry!” Time decided. Berry seemed to like the name a little bit, as he smiled beneath his hood.

Four took a breath of relief, he was finally getting breathing down again, “good. Now that that’s settled, I think we have been forgetting someone.”

He looked at Warriors, who had been sitting on the ground bored for the past ten minutes. He sat up once he realized the conversation was about him. 

“So,” Cobalt looked at the silver wolf, “is this a swap with Wolfie, or is this a Hyrule situation?”

Twilight swallowed harshly. The jig was up, he could only delay the inventible for so long. 

He raised his hand, “the wolf is from me. I was Wolfie.”

Silence. 

“I f*cking new it,” Wind did not whisper subtlety at all. He didn’t even look ashamed when they stared at him. “What, I’m an adult, I can curse! Also, we still haven’t figured out where this came from.”

“One thing at a time,” Sky’s eyes were wide, “you were Wolfie this whole time? Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Hyrule didn’t tell us he was half fairy,” Twilight pointed out. 

“I didn’t hang around us as a fairy and pretended to not be me,” Hyrule waved his hands, “but I did kind of not want you guys to know.”

“It doesn’t matter right now,” Twilight rubbed his eyes. 

“Who else knew?” Olive asked. 

“Four, Wild, and Time,” he answered, “I use Twili magic to transform and I have better hearing and sight while as a wolf. Happy?”

There were some mumbles that let him know they were not going to let this go for a while. At least they weren’t starting a witch hunt. 

“Great!” Wind stood up, “now, again, why am I an adult?”

Twilight hesitated, “the only swap left unaccountable is Time.”

“Me?” Time asked, “Navi, are they talk about me?”

“Yes,” Wild nodded, “do you remember anything about being an adult? Or a kid who turned into an adult? It’s alright if you don’t.”

Time shook his head, “no, I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

“In my time,” Wind thought out loud, “the Hero of Time was a child.”

“He was an adult in our time,” Lavender supplied. 

“And not much is known about him in mine,” Twilight said solemnly, “this must be something only Malon knows about.”

“So,” Wild looked at everyone, “now what? I am personally okay with being a fairy forever, but Warriors did say that all of this was a distraction.”

Warriors barked in agreement. 

“Cia just needs to track down our location and then she’ll attack,” Wild translated. 

“Then we need to be gone by the time she gets here,” Sky spoke, “only some of us can’t even fight, so it’s wouldn’t be safe.”

“Maybe we can use this power swap to our advantage,” Hyrule started to pace, “some of this made us weaker, but it has also made some of us stronger.”

Another bark. 

Wild sighed, he was starting to hate his new job, “Cia’s magic is most likely just covering the forest, so, if we made it out, we would all revert to normal.”

“I’m hearing run like hell,” Cobalt grinned. 

“I’m not fast...” Berry whimpered, “...I’ll get caught...or left behind...or one of you will die because...because I couldn’t save you...”

“Berry,” Twilight assured him, “you can ride on Warriors, a magical wolf can carry a lot of weight.”

He choose to ignore Warriors’ growls. He had to suck it up, like how he let Four ride with him sometimes. 

“Four,” Twilight gestured to the wolf’s back, “you, too. We can’t let you die because of asthma.”

“I feel like that’s an insult for my own abilities,” Sky frowned. 

“It’s not,” Four assured him, “I’m just not used to this. Sorry, Warriors.”

The plan that followed was quick and rushed. The three other Legends were to run alongside Warriors and catch anybody if they fell off him. Wild would guide Time, who wore his bunny hood that Wild found in his bag (which would have been hilarious in any other situation). Wind and Twilight ran with the wind as a propeller so they were practically flying. Sky’s new abilities didn’t help him much, but he at least didn’t have asthma slowing him down. Hyrule used his newfound anxiety and was the fastest one out of all of them and he just ran. 

And with that they were off. 

Warriors tried not to shiver as he felt Cia’s magic wash over them as they just barely missed her portal full of monsters. After nonstop running for four minutes, they made it passed the barrier of the forest. 

Once they exited, Warriors immediately changed back and was crushed under the weight of two people. Wind shrunk back into a kid and Twilight could finally sigh heavily. Time blinked as he recalled everything and the now human Wild smiled at him awkwardly. Four felt solace in his mind as his brothers returned and Sky felt unease set over him, but he was used to it. Hyrule felt his powers return to him and Legend could no longer stand still. 

Everything was back to normal...

Except for one thing. 

“Uh, guys,” Olive looked at everyone who were now complete, “why aren’t we back together?”

The four Legends stared at each other, unsure of what to do next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of things:
> 
> 1) this can be a oneshot that stands on its own if you remove the last few sentences  
> 2) the part two to this will also mostly stand alone  
> 3) there will be a part two that focuses on Lavender, Olive, Cobalt, and Berry  
> 4) I now do my one shots in LU live write by a vote where I put all my ideas and requests to a vote, so if you want to see a certain story you can vote there  
> 5) Thanks to all those who read this in LW and special thanks to Ambi who predicted everything before it happened, yall are incredible


	21. Muddled

“Let’s split up,” Four said to no one but himself. He did just that and he used his hidden power to split himself into his four counterparts: Green, Red, Blue, and Vio. 

“Took him long enough to let us out,” Blue stretched for the first time in months. 

“Did you seriously want to explain us and meet eight new people all at once?” Vio asked. 

“Time knew!” Red bounced, “and he loved us!”

Green shook his head, “only because he knew the story of the Four Sword from coming right after us. Just be grateful that we can split right now.”

“What’s the plan,” Blue nodded. 

Wild had caught sight of Dark Link in the corner of his eye multiple times over the past few days. Everyone had thought he had gone crazy, that is until Legend saw it too. They now knew Dark Link was watching them and they needed to find him. 

They all split away, though they were supposed to be in groups of two or three. Stupid, Warriors, always overconfident and running off. So, Four decided eights hands were better than two. 

“Since we are already alone,” Green thought, “I don’t see why we can’t just spread out in opposite directions. Just shout when you find Dark Link.”

“We could be lured into a trap,” Vio pointed out, “that’s why Time wanted us in groups.”

“Too late now!” Blue barked, “we can protect ourself anyways. It’s not like the others have a mental link to each other, we are probably better separated than staying a pack.”

“For right now at least,” Red agreed. 

“Fine,” Vio sighed. 

Green pointed towards some trees, “I’ll take North.”

“South!” Blue claimed. 

“East,” Red chirped. 

Vio started walking, “that leaves me with West. See you in a bit.”

There were a chorus of goodbyes as each Link forged through their path. They had the unfortunate luck of being in the woods at night and during a fog, but they needed to find their enemy. 

Vio stayed alert, glancing at everything, but he never lowered his guard or got scared. Red was probably scared, Vio thought with a sad smile, it would be just like him. 

Then, slowly, a noise was coming closer to him. It started quiet and spread out, but it became frantic and louder as time went on. It sounded like a person was coughing. A person who was very injured. 

He was hesitant to call out, thinking it might be an ally, but he wasn’t sure. It was getting darker, so there wouldn’t be a way soon for him to see who it was. Unless he had the lantern this time...

His emotions got the better of him, not even thinking about how we would explain himself if it was a Link. 

“Link?” He asked. 

“H-half,” the cougher finally made it to where Vio could make him out, “you’re h-half r-right.”

His eyes widened, “Shadow?”

Shadow smirked, “the one and only. H-hey, Vi...”

Bam! He fell to the ground and didn’t move again. Vio ran over and assessed the situation, it would be time to question why Shadow was there later. 

Shadow’s injuries were extensive. He had burns all over his limbs and legs and a cut on his neck. He had a broken arm, which probably explained why his sword and shield were missing. The worst injury was the stab wound in his stomach that was currently bleeding out.

“Shadow?” Vio propped him up on his leg and tried his best to stop the bleeding with his hat, “what happened?”

His friend slowly opened his eyes and again and Shadow smiled. The idiot, Vio thought. But he was his idiot. 

“W-would you believe it if I said I pulled a Vio?” He laughed and then winced. 

“That’s not funny,” Vio frowned. He still hated the fact that he had to double cross Shadow. 

“It is a little bit,” Shadow continued, “I worked for Dark Link, but not b-because of what you think. He offered me a position in ruling the world. I said yes, I’m not an idiot.”

“You megalomaniac,” Vio groaned. 

“You love me,” he winked, “anyway, I was always going to betray him. I meant what I said back then, and I still keep my side of the promise.”

“Promise?” 

Shadow weakly grabbed Vio’s hand, “I ain’t ruling the world without you.”

Vio huffed, “for a guy who claims to be evil, you have a strange knack for sweet sentiments. All the while using improper language.”

He chuckled and coughed again, “y-yeah. Call Vaati, cause I’m a fraud!”

“You dork,” Vio snorted, “what happened then?”

“I enacted my plan a couple days ago,” Shadow explained, a pained look in his eye, “this is why I needed you, I suck at plans. I was easily s-stopped and Dark Link put me in a prison that always had l-light pouring in. He gave me the stab wound as a present and then said he was going to kill y’all now as extra punishment. The other injuries are f-from when I escaped to find you.”

“Who’s he killing?” Vio panicked, “is he going for Four or any of the others?”

“H-he,” Shadow whispered, “he wants to kill you, Vio, so that Four is forever lost, and you would hurt me the most. The others are collateral.”

“I have to tell the others!” Vio stood up and moved Shadow to lean against a tree, “will you be alright here?”

He shook his head and attempted to stand up. He bit the inside of his mouth and Vio tried to get him to stay still. 

“I came here,” he grabbed Vio’s shoulder, “to save you. I am not leaving your side!”

“You can’t move or fight like this,” Vio argued, “you need to stay here.”

Shadow coughed, “if I stay, I d-definitely won’t be here by the time you come back. I’ll either die from my injuries or Dark Link will find me.”

“You can’t come with me,” Vio started to think of solutions to the problem, “if Dark Link is looking for me, you’d be an easy target.”

“S-so,” Shadow moved away from the tree and now only had Vio for support, “stay with me! Better yet, leave with me. You can help me heal and you won’t be killed.”

“What? Shadow, I can’t! My brothers are out the-“

“Your b-brothers have done fine without you,” he cried, “and they will be fine now. Please, come with me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” Vio assured him, “there must be some way we can hide you. Can you go into my shadow again?”

He shook his head, “my powers are the weakest they’ve ever been, and I don’t have darkness resupplying them. There’s no other way.”

The fog was creeping in and the sky was getting darker. Vio looked around in confusion while Shadow looked terrified. 

“He’s here!” He spat out, “we need to go. Now!”

He started to hobble away, looking back to outstretch his hand to Vio. Vio started to reach forward. He badly wanted it to be like the old days of him and Shadow causing mischief, but he had grown up since then. He couldn’t go and play anymore. 

Vio sighed, “I’m sorry, Shadow. But my answer is no.”

His expression flickered to something he couldn’t quite read, “oh?”

“I can’t run from my problems,” he stood his ground, “and I will not abandon my brothers again.”

“T-then,” Shadow walked to him and hugged him fiercely, “y-you’ve killed me, Vio.”

Vio hugged back, feeling his eyes watered, “I know.”

“Good.”

And he felt a pain in his back.

“Vio?” Shadow asked, worried at the sound of his sharp gasp, “are you alright?”

“S-shadow?” his visioned blurred. What was he hit with? How did he miss an attack?

He collapsed on the ground and Shadow followed after him. He tried to feel his back and felt a hole growing in the center of his lower back. He felt no weapon, though. Shadow sat up painfully. 

“S-something,” Vio stuttered, “Dark Link, he, he g-got me.”

“Oh, no,” he saw the blood pouring out, “this is bad. He must be getting stronger to attack from a distance!”

“A bullet, maybe?” Vio suggested, “magic, most likely.”

“Stop using that brain of yours for a moment,” Shadow complained, “we’re both going to bleed out!”

“I c-can,” he tried to reach for his sword, which fell a little ways away from him, “I can summon my brothers.”

Shadow’s eyes widened, “since when? They couldn’t even tell that Green was alive that one time we tricked him.”

“That was before we had enough force,” Vio reached his sword, “got it!”

He sent out a distress signal to the others. His brothers would be there in a couple minutes. Until then, they needed to survive. 

“Why didn’t you go with me!” Shadow whined, “you would have been fine.”

“We still will be,” Vio hoped, “you haven’t met the others, but we have some great healers.”

“And what happens when they see me?” He shouted, “they’ll try to kill me, because all they’ll see is *Dark Link*, a monster!”

“You’re not a monster.”

“Then they’ll see an echo, a copy, a shadow!” He listed off, “and assume I’m bad. That’s what Heroes do, right? Kill anything that looks evil without asking questions.”

Vio frowned, “they’ll listen to me.”

“No, the won’t,” Shadow pointed out, “you aren’t exactly yourself right now, so who’s to say they don’t think you’re also a copy?”

“How did you know we didn’t tell the others about the powers of the Four Sword,” he narrowed his eyes. 

Shadow grinned, “because I know you. You would rather hoard all the secrets in the world then share them with a few people.”

He leaned back and sighed, “you’re right. We didn’t tell them, we all thought it’d be best not to. If someone got here before my brothers, then...”

“We’re as good as dead,” Shadow agreed, “look, I have a last resort. It’s something that Dark Link would never expect us to do.”

He pulled out of his pocket a sphere the size of his hand: the moon pearl. It would allow them to travel to the Dark World safely. 

“How would this help?” Vio asked, “wouldn’t Dark Link be able to find us quickly?”

Shadow shook his head, “no, he wouldn’t think we would do something as stupid as go there. But I would be so much more powerful there and could possibly heal. I didn’t use it at first because I was scared you would reject the idea, but now that we have no choice...”

“We can come back at any time?” he ran through all the positive and negatives in his head, “you’ll heal?”

“Yes! Please, Vio, I can’t survive must longer.”

Vio nodded slowly. With success in his eyes, Shadow lifted the moon pearl up to the heavens and waited for the clouds to move away. Then, something clicked in Vio’s mind.

“Shadow,” he hated to ask, “what happened to your cough?”

“What?” Shadow laughed before his face fell, “oh, it must be the adrenaline. Or whatever those drugs you said your brain had when you were hurt.”

“How did you get back?” He pushed, “we saw you die.”

Shadow frowned, “the light damaged me, but it didn’t fully kill me, I had to wait to be resurrected one again by Dark Link.”

“Where’s your sword?”

He froze, “it, uh, didn’t come back with me. What are you getting at?”

“Why don’t you look like us anymore?” Vio gestured to his clothes, “you look the same since last time, and you always reflected what we wore. Where’s your tunic like ours?”

“I’ll answer these questions later!” Shadow stood up and punched the moon pearl into the sky, “c’mon, moon.”

Vio glared up and saw an expression he never saw on Shadow before. While Shadow always had a bit of humor and smiled or smirked through life, he was now glaring at the sky. His lips were snarled and his eyes glinted with malice. 

“You’re not Shadow,” he realized in a sad voice.

“Vio,” ‘Shadow’ didn’t look down, “stop being an idiot. Of course it’s me.”

“Then stop!” Vio commanded, “we are not going to the Dark World.”

“It’s too late,” the moon finally made its way through the clouds. 

Think! Vio screamed at himself, he had to stop him. What hurt beings made of dark magic? Light, but he didn’t have any light magic with him and he definitely couldn’t wield a sword like this. What was the closest thing to light? Fire!

Vio swore as he searched quickly through his things. If Blue had it he was going to kill him in the afterlife. 

He silently cheered when he found the item he was looking for: a lantern. He lit it and gestured it towards ‘Shadow’. 

“Ahh!” He hissed and dropped the moon pearl, which rolled away into the dirt. “Vio, you, you idiot!”

He scurried away from the light like it was a plague. He clutched his hands to his face in pain and his form seemed to shimmer. 

“Who are you!?” Vio demanded to know. 

‘Shadow’ chuckled darkly, slowly lowering his hands, revealing that his face was melting like wax. Half of his face was the Shadow that Vio knew, the other was an exact replica of want Vio looked like now. 

“Who’d ya think?” Dark Link grinned ferally.

Vio tried to limp away on one hand, keeping the flames in front of him. Dark Link’s disguise melted completely away to reveal his true form, one that more echoed Four than Vio. 

“Stay back!” He shouted, “where’s Shadow?”

Dark Link rolled his eyes, “I thought you were the smart one. Your shadow is right behind you, and that’s where it’s going to stay. But if you really wanted to know, then the last time you saw him was really the last.”

Vio tried to show no emotion, he knew that was the case when it happened. Why did it still hurt?

His enemy walked in circles, muttering to himself, “you couldn’t take the bait! All you had to do was say ‘oh, Shadow, I love you so much! Sweep me away in your arms!’ But, no!”

Vio winced at his injury, which worsened when Dark Link glared at him. 

“I had this whole plan,” he mourned, “I was going to double cross myself, before double crossing you. I thought it’d be nice for you to know how it feels.”

“Why?” Vio questioned, “if this wasn’t to punish Shadow, why are you targeting me?”

He shrugged, “easy target? Plus, I was bored and I figure I could have a lot of fun with you, the only Link to show compassion to his reflection. If there is one thing that Heroes hate the most, I learned, it’s themselves.”

“You flatter yourself if you think you’re anything like us,” Vio growled. 

Dark Link froze, “you’re right. I am nothing but an evil, pitiful creation made by Demise! It’s not my fault that I have no free will of my own, I have to do what I am ordered.”

He sighed, “it’s a painful existence being me...”

He looked to Vio was a sad expression, but Vio wasn’t buying it. 

“Great acting,” he drawled, “almost better than Blue’s. Cut the nonsense, you’re a sadist who enjoys your work.”

Dark Link’s face returned to baring his fangs, “guilty as charged! Sad for you, though, I would’ve let you live longer if you played along. But, I guess it’s time to say goodbye!”

He started to march forward, no longer caring about the fire in Vio’s hand. It hurt him, sure, but he couldn’t pass off an opportunity like this. 

“GREEN!” Vio shouted at the top of his lungs, “BLUE, RED! ANYBODY!”

Dark Link kicked his arm, forcing him to drop the lantern. The fire was snuff out when it hit the ground and they were submerged in darkness. The only thing that gave Vio sight were the piercing red eyes of Dark Link and the soft glow that came from his sword. 

“That won’t work, little Hero,” he booped Vio on the nose, “your brothers won’t be able to find you while I’m still here.”

“Little,” Vio snarled, “we’re the same height and I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.”

“But so much weaker,” he flicked his nose this time. 

“Then do your worst. Can’t be any more torture than your one man show.”

“Hmm,” Dark Link hummed and he balanced on his toes, “I will gladly kill you, I was just thinking about something. I did mean it when I said you were the *one* Link to show kindness to his shadow. I’m curious as to why.”

“I backstabbed Shadow,” he stated bluntly, “I wouldn’t call that kindness.”

“In the end, you did, but I’m curious about the beginning, where you willingly joined him.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Why don’t you join me?” Dark Link tilted his head, “you’re smart, so you know what happens if you say no. Just think of me like your Shadow! The only difference is I won’t fail in my conquest.”

“You’re just Shadow on a budget,” Vio insulted, “I thought you answered to Demise?”

“I do,” he waved his hands in a sarcastic manner, “or do I? I could have been lying about everything I’ve said so far, you don’t know. I only tell my plans to my allies.”

“Really?” He didn’t believe him, “was that a lie?”

Dark Link smiled, “catching on!”

“My answer, once again, is no,” he spat at his enemy’s face. Dark Link wiped the spit off and stood up, angry. “I will not betray my brothers again.”

“Better loyal and dead than smart and alive, huh?” Dark Link summoned a weapon that mirrored the Four Sword. 

“Better brave and kind than a coward and evil,” Vio closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

-

“Vio!” Red called, “where are you?!”

“No sight of him here!” Blue called back. 

Green was panicking, “we never should have split. Why can’t we sense him?”

They had felt Vio’s distress call five minutes ago and they were still looking for him. They headed West until they walked out of the forest and they walked East until they came back to their starting point. It’s like they somehow skipped over a whole part of the woods. 

“What if he’s in trouble?” Red whimpered. 

No one answered him. 

They continued searching for five more minutes when all of their hairs stood up. A chill washed over them at once and they couldn’t move. It felt like something inside them shattered. 

“Vio,” Green knew.

Red bursted into tears and Blue tried to comfort him. Green refused to give up. That feeling could mean anything, not just that he...that he...

“Look!” He snapped himself out of it and pointed to the West. The fog that covered it was lifting and a purple light was shining through the trees. “Let’s go!”

Pulling themselves together, the trio ran into the trees that they couldn’t before. The made it to an area that clearly had a struggle, but nothing and no one was there. That is except for...

“Vio’s sword,” Red kneeled down and picked it up, “and our lantern.”

Suddenly, dark ink started flowing out of the ground and solidifying on the tip of the sword. Red dropped it in fear and backed away. They watched the ink built up and revealed a copy of themselves: Dark Link. He was smirking, holding up the Four Sword with dark magic on the hilt like it was a victory prize or a spoil of war.

“You have no right to touch that!” Blue wanted to rush forward. 

“Why not?” Dark Link looked at the blade with interest, “I am also a Link, and it seems you are missing your fourth member.”

“YOU BASTARD!” Blue had to be held back by Red and Green. All of this was highly amusing to Dark Link. 

“What did you do to Vio?” Green narrowed his eyes. 

“I did nothing,” he lied, “your brother ran out, betrayed you once again. Deep down he was a coward, and he knew it too, so he made a smart decision. He should be in a time far away right now.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re a bad actor?” Red asked. He asked it like a five year old would’ve, not realizing that it was rude. 

Dark Link glared, “all the time.”

Green nodded, “you lie worse than I did when I was actually four.”

“Fine,” he relented, “but I didn’t completely lie, Vio did betray you. He right here.”

He pointed his chest. He could tell that they weren’t getting what he was spelling out. He huffed. 

“Don’t you think it’s odd that I could hold this sacred blade?” He hinted. When they still didn’t get it, he groaned. “Let me show you.”

The left half of him melted off completely, revealing that he had something under his darkness. It was Vio! He has his eyes closed and his face showed no expression, but it was him. His clothes were torn up and he had blood stains all over him. Dark Link solidified again, with an evil grin. 

“Vio!” The three cried. 

“Yes,” Dark Link nodded, “you’re brother was kind enough to give me his body. I offered him either death or helping me, and you can see what he choose.”

“He choose death, then,” Green argued, “and we will save him!”

“If you can, that is,” he readied his sword, “your brother’s fatally wounded, and my darkness is the only thing keeping him alive. Attacking me would just harm him.”

“Red,” Green commanded, “use the lantern, we know they are weak to it. Blue, find anything else that Vio might’ve dropped that could help us. I’ll fight Dark Link.”

Blue looked like he wanted to argue, but decided against it. He nodded and him and Red got to work. 

“We fought like this before,” Dark Link mused, “haven’t we? It was on Death Mountain while your brothers looked on in terror.”

“That wasn’t you,” Green took the first swing. 

“But it was,” he dodged, “to make it even better, you were holding back just like you are now.”

“I distinctly remember me coming out alive in that life or death fight,” Green gritted his teeth and stabbed. 

“Vio took pity on you then, I have no such thing.”

While the two fought, Red and Blue worked on their jobs. Red was trying to fix the lantern, which broke and wouldn’t stay lit due to the wind. He didn’t want to resort to his fire rod, yet, if it came down to it, he would. 

“Find anything?” Red asked Blue hopefully. 

“No, no,” Blue muttered, scrounging in the dark, “I can’t see anything- wait!”

He felt something smooth and round. When brought into the light of his sword, he recognized it. 

“The moon pearl!” Blue gasped, “if we take Dark Link to the Dark World then he’ll be solid and actually killable. Vio might be shoved out of his body, too.”

“That doesn’t sound right...”

“It’s the best we got! Green, move him into the moonlight!”

Green nodded, not even knowing the planned. He stepped backwards. 

“Do you think I am going to do what you just said?” Dark Link laughed, “ridiculous.”

Green murmured, gathering his courage, “for Vio. HYAH!”

He ran forward, but not at Dark Link. He ran to the left of him. At the last second before he would’ve sliced him in two, Green flipped his sword over and smacked his hilt into the enemy’s stomach, just like Vio did to him a long time ago. Dark Link was knocked out cold, but he wouldn’t be for long. 

“Nice move!” Blue complimented and reached his hand into the air with the moon pearl. They pushed Dark Link into the moonlight and they were all whisked away into the Dark World. 

Once they were fully in the new dimension, the three looked to Dark Link. Weirdly enough, what Blue predicted happened. Dark Link gained a more solid form, a form that couldn’t handle Vio’s body, so it rejected it. Vio was tossed out and Red looked him over.

“He’s breathing!” He sighed in relief. 

“We need to get out of here!” Green shouted, “Dark Link may be killable here, but we can’t ignore the echo affects. Remember, any injury we give to him goes to who he’s copying.”

“It’s going to suck when we reform then,” Red groaned, “that was a pretty hard hit you gave him.”

Green felt queasy just thinking about it. When Dark Link started to stir, he held hands with his brothers and ordered Blue to send them back. Just as the magic took them, they caught sight as some very annoyed red eyes. 

When they landed back in Hyrule, they immediately fused back together. Vio’s injuries would have killed him if they didn’t, because any injury one of them would gain while split would lesson when back as one. The stab wound in the back was now nothing but a knick, the real kicker being the body loss. 

Then the hilt hit from Green took over. Four doubled over in pain and coughed. 

“Jeez, guys,” he asked the voices in his head, “be more careful next time.”

“Four?” A new voice appeared, it was Hyrule, “Four! We’ve been looking for you. What happened?”

He put on a smile and lied, “just ran into a moblin den on accident.”

Hyrule pouted, “and you didn’t invite me!”

Four laughed and hoped Hyrule didn’t notice him slipping the moon pearl into his pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> K, the sequel to the last One Shot in now in it’s own story called Four. 
> 
> This was the prompt that won the vote today.


	22. To Die Would be an Awfully Big Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for death, this is a chapter about a funeral and you are under no obligations to read this. No other of my fics will be like this. 
> 
> If I write more than one extreme fic then I’ll put them in another story, but this should be my only one.

-TW for Death-

It rained that day. Of course it did. 

Wild used to laugh at all the times it rained in his Hyrule and everyone would complain. Wind would have the brilliant idea to conduct the Song of Passing to move the day along or the Ballad of Gales to pass the clouds away. 

But today it rained. 

The rocking of the boat made Legend sea sick. He almost refused to come, but he forced himself to. He remembered teaching Wind how to build a makeshift raft in case he ever needed it. Wind looked at him like he was crazy when he refused to step foot on the thing. 

“Don’t you trust my building abilities?” He joked. 

Legend ended up falling off the boat and going into shock. Wind pulled him back to land and helped him get back on his feet. Suddenly, the ocean didn’t seem bad. 

He felt so sick.

Warriors held on tightly to Wind’s Phantom Sword, unafraid that he might cut himself. Wind showed off his weapon so proudly, decreeing it as the only thing that could kill spirits. 

If only it was a spirit he faced. If only a cut wasn’t all it took. 

Hyrule gripped the side of the banister, in case he might collapse there where he stood. Sky was catatonic on a barrel in a corner. Four was no where to be found, but arguing was heard below deck. Twilight had covered his face and wouldn’t look anyone in the eye. Time was staring at the empty sea, cursing the moment that any child had to fight in age long wars. 

The wind was quiet that day. Wind was gone.

It was an easy battle, it should’ve been. They had plenty of fairies and potions that they thought they would be fine. A monster snuck up on Wind, he never told them he was injured. 

The injury was infected. 

Wind died days later. 

The goddesses granted them some mercy, immediately sending them back to Wind’s time. It wasn’t as eloquent as they would’ve liked, dropping them in the throne room while Tetra was doing some royal duty. She saw his body wrapped in sheets and...

Warriors couldn’t forget her scream. 

Tetra mourned and shrieked in rage, daring to kill anyone who had anything to do with Wind’s death. The names of the goddesses were thrown around and lightning struck outside. She eventually calmed down enough to ask about a funeral. 

“I have- I have to tell his family,” she stood up straight, trying to put on a strong face, “but I think he deserves a sailor’s funeral. It’s what he would have wanted.”

She bid them adieu and the Links were left alone until she returned with the family. Most of them still hadn’t processed the death. Wild, definitely didn’t.

“I could’ve saved him,” he looked through all of his inventory, looking for the one potion could reverse death, “I should have.”

“Cub,” Twilight whispered, “it’s not your fault. None of us knew.”

Wild cried, “I can’t lose anyone else! Without him here, I’ll forget about him. That’s what always happens.”

Nothing anyone said could make Wild feel better. He didn’t say anything more for the days to come. 

Tetra returned with the family, Wind’s Grandmother and Aryll, his sister. Behind them was Linebeck, a man who Wind once talked about being a father to him. They ran to his body, the Grandmother cupping his lifeless cheek. 

“Link,” she whispered. She didn’t know how she outlasted a grandchild. 

“Big brother,” Aryll tugged at his shirt, “please, you have to wake up. You always oversleep.”

Linebeck took off his hat, “kid, you were supposed to be the death of me, not the other way around.”

The next days went in a blur. Wind’s body was carried away to his house where he would stay until everyone was emotionally ready to say goodbye. Though, to be honest, they would never be. 

The only other issue about the funeral was about which boat to use. Tensions were running high and Tetra and Linebeck were already quick to anger people, a death didn’t help any. 

Tetra claimed that since Wind spent his first adventure and part of his second on her pirate ship that they should use it. Wind was one of her crew, so, as his captain and queen, she should have the right to relieve him of duty. 

Linebeck pointed out that the first adventure was spent mostly on the King of Red Lions and the second one was entirely on his boat. The man was close to breaking on the inside, making it clear that he needed the solace for it be on his ship. He forced Wind to do all the work, and he felt guilty about it. 

They eventually compromised. They would use Tetra’s ship, as there was more space, but Linebeck would be the one to send him off.

The day of the funeral came. It was raining. The boat was rocking. The weapons were laid down. The wind was quiet. 

Everyone gathered around Tetra, most a little worse for wear. The entire party contained the Links, his family, Tetra’s crew, and a few of his friends that he met on his journey. 

“We gather here today,” she spoke in an out of sarcasm, it was a defensive reflex that she had for her emotions, “because you know why! Link, or the Hero of Winds, or Trains, died due to injuries sustained in battle. He was stupid, didn’t tell anyone he was injured, and he became sick.”

She looked at everyone, “all of you knew Link for different reasons. Some of you are family, some of you his crew members. Some of you he saved and some of you are all three. For me, I don’t know what he was, and now I’ll never know...”

She choked on some tears and she had to step down. Wind’s Grandmother took her in her arms and soothed her as she cried. Aryll was looking at the ground, she had been crying since she learned and wouldn’t stop anytime soon. 

Warriors stepped forward to speak. He had buried many comrades before, he knew what everyone was feeling, and some of those thoughts could be dangerous.

“Even though he’s gone,” he started, gripping the Phantom Sword, “Wind- Link wouldn’t want us to blame ourselves for his death. I don’t know most of you, but for you guys-“

He looked to the Links, especially to Wild. 

“We couldn’t have saved him. He didn’t tell us he was injured, so there’s no amount of guilt that can bring him back.”

Wild didn’t move. He wasn’t processing anything at the moment. 

“We’ll remember him,” Warriors smiled bittersweetly, “in my time he’s a renowned Hero that many look up to. He did a lot of good and he made a lot of friends. He was like a brother to me, and I will wear the honor of being his friend like a badge for the rest of my life.”

He sat the sword on Wind’s wrapped up body, “goodbye, Wind.”

It was then everyone said goodbye. The pirates all walked through first and each individually saluted him. Makar and Medli played the songs he taught them together and bowed their heads in prayer. Aryll put her telescope next to his sword and his Grandmother laid their family shield over both. Tetra took off her right glove, her triforce hand, and placed it on him as well. 

The Links were a different matter. They had been traveling with Wind for months straight. They all knew him, flaws and all. They knew how he used to have a lisp and could whistle high enough that only dogs could hear. They knew that he used to try to swim to the edge of the world as a kid and that he had to have a rope tied on him when he went to the shore. They knew too much for them to be considered anything but family. 

Twilight bowed his head and prayed, Wild at his side. Four had collected himself enough that he managed to whisper out a shaky goodbye. Sky already prayed for his soul to be at peace and for Hylia to grant him a wonderful afterlife, but it didn’t hurt to do it again. Time and Hyrule didn’t say anything, it was more of a silent thing for them. 

Legend couldn’t walk near the body, his fear of the ocean wouldn’t let him be within ten feet of the railing. He could only stare from afar and wonder how this happy boy who loved the ocean so much, would soon never leave it. This is why Legend worked alone, he wouldn’t have to deal with any more losses if he stuck to that.

Once everyone was done, Linebeck stepped forward. He cleared his throat awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“I have the honor of sending Link off,” he said softly, “I hate to admit it, but I’m a coward. I always have been, but Link was never one to run away from danger. He was so courageous that when I was sent fleeing from the Temple of the Ocean King, he marched in sword first. He was so selfless that he saved me when I didn’t deserve it. I couldn’t be prouder to call anyone else but Link...”

He toon a shaking breath and gripped the railing. 

“My son,” he finished, “he made a man out of a cowardly lion and I tried to do everything to repay him. I felt protective of him and I hoped he felt the same of me. He was, and is, my son, regardless of where we both came from. Now, your Majesty?”

Tetra wiped away her tears and held onto one end of the cloth that Wind’s body was on while Linebeck held onto the other. 

“It is time to send Link off into the greatest voyage,” Linebeck said, “dying is an awfully big adventure, one that he will charge forward through and come out stronger. Sailor...”

Everyone stood at attention as Tetra and Linebeck sent Wind to place he loved most. He was now in his home of the Great Sea and would soon meet his ancestors in the flooded Hyrule. 

“I relieve you of your duty.”

They all watched as his body and items disappeared into the depths. Maybe one day, someone would uncover his treasure like he did so many years ago, but it was unlikely. No one explored more than Wind did in this ocean. 

Tetra went to steer the ship back to New Hyrule and Linebeck was confronted by Time. Neither said a word as Time pulled Linebeck into a hug, one that had a solidarity between those who had lost a child. Everyone else settled down and just wished to be home. 

No one noticed as a soft blue glow emerged from the waters and followed them. 

Linebeck was right, dying was a big adventure, but Wind was short and ready to prove anyone otherwise. Wind’s spirit laughed as he hung from the mast and looked into the distance with his sister’s telescope. He was never truly leaving any of them, he had a duty to fulfill. Who was Linebeck to say whether or not he was relieved? The only thing that owned Wind was the wind itself. 

And the wind was blowing. Was this the wind that Ganondorf felt, or something else? The wind of death, or the wind of freedom? 

It was both. 

Wind smiled as he turned into a seagull and landed on Legend’s head. 

“Hey!” Legend grumbled, “nasty bird.”

Wind squawked at him and nestled deeper in the rat’s nest. Legend didn’t really to seem to mind, in fact he seemed better by such a familiar creature being near him. 

Off to the next adventure, as the rain stopped pouring.


	23. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: for beheading

“Twilight, I’m fine!” Wild protested, “I haven’t relapsed in weeks and this is my Hyrule. It’s perfectly safe for me to run to my house.”

The group all simultaneously rolled their eyes at the third time Twilight and Wild had this argument. Every once in while, Wild’s memory would just stop working and the last thing he remembered would be around beating Ganon. They all remembered the first time they discovered this quirk. 

They were fishing and Wild had walked down stream to find something. The next thing anyone knew was that a bunch of explosions went off and they all went running to see what was wrong. They found Wild messing with his remote bombs and he jumped back when he saw them. 

“Wild,” Time rubbed his forehead, “I thought we agreed that you would no longer use bombs for fishing.”

“Uh?” Wild looked at his slate and then back to Time, “who are you?”

“Funny joke, Wild,” Twilight grabbed his arm, “seriously? Remember I’m the one Time gets mad at when you act up.”

Wild yanked his arm back, “I have never seen any of you before. My name is Link, not Wild. You must be confused.”

“Oh,” Twilight recognized the blank stare that Ilia once gave him, “this is bad.”

Against his will, they dragged Wild back to their camp and Twilight told them to give him space until his memory returned. Twilight spent the next day and a half showing Wild things that he thought would jog his memory. The whole time Wild was being difficult to work with, trying to leave camp the moment Twilight turned his head. 

Finally, it was Wolfie that brought him back. The camp was empty for the first time, sans Wild and Twilight, so he could safely transform. The act of him seeing a man turn into a wolf and vice versa caused something to click in Wild. 

“Twilight, oh my gods,” he clutched his face, “what happened to me?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing,” Twilight smiled, “did you hit your head or something.”

He shook his head, “I dropped the slate and, when I stood up, I couldn’t remember how I got here or anything since moving Zelda into my house.”

“We’ll figure it out. I’m glad you’re back, Cub.”

They never found out why this happened, they just got used to it. Since then, Wild forgot a total of five times. 

The first time was a week after his initial spout of amnesia. Twilight immediately recognized the problem and dragged him away once more. The others were heavily concerned. 

The second time was a month later. It caught them all off guard, because they thought the problem was fixed. They started to look into brain damage and it’s affects, in case that was the source. 

The third time was two weeks after that. They were ashamed to admit, but they didn’t realize that it even happened for two days. Wild forgot in the middle of a conversation with them, so he pretended to know what was going on until he slipped up. At this point, the Links came to expect the amnesia. 

The fourth and fifth time were a month after in the same week. No one was concerned anymore and just told Wild that they were friends and his memory would come back in a day. 

It had been two months since then and Wild argued that being back in his Hyrule was helping him.

Which brought them to this argument. Twilight didn’t like leaving Wild alone anymore and Wild hated that he didn’t trust his abilities. 

“Twilight, shut up!” Legend shouted, “let him go.”

“If he forgets he’ll be with his Zelda,” Hyrule said more politely, “who will know what to do.”

When they first arrived in Wild’s Hyrule and met his Zelda they asked about the possibility of it being a side effect of the shrine. She didn’t know, but she was told what to do if it happened when she was around. 

“Then it’s settled!” Wild didn’t even bother to wait for a response from Twilight. He pulled out his slate and vanished in ribbons of blue light. Twilight glared at where Wild used to be and went to pout.

Hours would pass and there was no sign of Wild. It should have been an hour, at most, but there wasn’t even a message from him. 

“Maybe he wanted to sleep at his house,” Warriors suggested, “gods know I would want to sleep in a bed.”

“He’ll be back tomorrow, Pup,” Time patted Twilight on the head, “it’s my watch, you go to sleep.”

Reluctantly, Twilight went to bed…

Wild didn’t show up in the morning.

“He’s forgotten again!” Twilight declared, “I knew it!”

“We can’t always watch him,” Four told him, “he’s not a prisoner.”

“Until we find out what is wrong, it’s too dangerous for him to be alone.”

“Let’s just find him,” Wind pointed to the direction of Hateno, “he’s probably still at his house.”

They all started walking down the path. They ran across a few travelers with horses or donkeys and they would engage in some chat. A few of them mentioned how everything was so much safer in Hyrule that they didn’t feel the need to even carry a weapon. 

“I haven’t seen a bokoblin in weeks,” one smiled, “our Hero must’ve cleared them all out.”

“I just wish the lizalfoes would go away,” their partner shivered, “where do they get lightning arrows.”

They made it to right before dueling peaks when Sky pointed to a Sheikah Tower. On the lower platforms, Wild was swinging around his weapon, bored. 

“Wild!” Sky called, “what are you doing?”

Wild didn’t respond. He was staring vacantly at Hyrule Castle. 

Twilight sighed. He grabbed his clawshot and hooked on to the platform above Wild. Wild jumped at the metal clanging and looked up to see him dropped down to his platform. 

“I am honestly going to kill you,” Twilight huffed, “what are you doing here, Cub?”

“Who are you?” Wild gestured his weapon at Twilight, who was unimpressed. 

“I knew it,” he repeated from earlier, “when you remember, expect a long conversation. I’m Twilight, we’re friends, and you have amnesia that makes you forget me and our friends, but it’ll come back to you in about a day.”

“How can I trust you?” He arched an eyebrow, “I’ve been attacked by ‘friends’. Are you Yiga?”

“No,” this is the third time Wild asked this, but he hadn’t been this skittish. Twilight took note of the Yiga sickle he held. He must have been attacked while he was gone. So much for safe roads. “Besides, we have the Master Sword, which only those chosen by the goddess can have, so we’re trustworthy.”

“The Sword that Seals the Darkness?” He used the full title, looking interested, “how do you have it? It should be hidden away.”

“Long story, that I will not explain again. You’ll remember shortly, c’mon.”

Wild followed, keeping his distance. Everyone immediately recognized the look in his eyes and reintroduced themselves. 

“Hi?” Wild said uncertainly. 

“Did you ever make it home?” Twilight asked, “or did you come from there?”

“Home?” Wild shook his head, “no.”

“Then let’s go there, your Zelda can jog your memory faster than we can.”

“My Zelda?”

“We know multiple Zeldas,” Wind explained, “it’s the easiest way to not confuse us. Though, my Zelda’s actual name is Tetra, so I just call her that.”

Wind always liked to talk about Tetra, Twilight smiled at the obvious young love. 

“She’s at my house?” He asked, “shouldn’t she be with the Sheikah?”

Twilight shrugged, “unless there’s a plan that you didn’t tell us about, she should be in Hateno.”

“Hateno, right!” Wild grinned, “you guys will love my home.”

“We’ve been there before,” Four explained, “when we appeared in front of the lab.”

“Really?”

Wild was more talkative than he usually was, but Twilight chalked that up to the amnesia. Each time he forgot he became a little different, caused by however the environment affected him. He might’ve talked to travelers like they had during the night. 

They quickly made their way to Hateno, giving Wild a rundown on what their plan was, since he was so adamant to know. They asked if he had eaten and he looked down. 

“Why didn’t you get food from your slate?” Hyrule asked. 

“My slate?” Wild looked to his hip, where the Sheikah Slate hung, “I ran out.”

“Gave all the apples to Epona?” Legend laughed, “she’s never going to love you as much as Twilight.”

“Shut up, Legend,” Twilight barked. 

“Hey, Link!” A guard at the entrance to Hateno waved, “who are your friends?”

Wild flinched for some reason before recovering himself. He smiled and returned the wave. 

“Some people I met while traveling,” he lied, “they want to see my house.”

“Is that why you’re back real soon?” The guard tilted his head, “the nightshift said they saw you already last night. You must’ve left while we were switching.”

“Yeah, must’ve,” Wild walked passed and the Links followed him. He looked around and saw his house past the bridge. He started walking with a purpose. 

“Slow down, Cub!” Twilight ran after him. 

“Oh, sorry!” He slowed down. 

“You saying sorry more than usual,” Legend pointed out, “it’s weird.”

“Sorry?” He opened the door to his house.

There was movement in the house that stopped at the door opening. Wild’s Zelda was chopping carrots and she froze mid-chop. 

“Zelda!” Wild called. 

What none of them expected was Zelda to throw her knife into the door, an inch from Wild’s shoulder. 

“What the f*ck?” Legend stepped in the house and removed the knife, “I though my Zelda was the violent one?”

“Legend?” Zelda questioned as she pulled a claymore off the wall. She nearly fell over picking it up, but she did so nonetheless. “What are you doing?”

“Wild forgot again,” Twilight explained, “what’s wrong?”

“Zelda,” Wild stepped forward, “what was that for?”

“Back away, Yiga,” she gritted her teeth.

“Yiga?” Twilight looked at her like she was crazy. 

“Apologies for my words,” Zelda glared, “but you are all a bunch of dunces.”

“Thanks,” Legend drawled. 

“Me and Link have an agreement,” Zelda backed up, “he wouldn’t ever use a Yiga’s weapon again.”

Wild looked at his sickle, “I was attacked and all my weapons broke. This is all I had to defend myself.”

“Don’t care,” Zelda spat, “if you were really Link, then you would have came here for back-up weapons.”

“This is ridiculous,” Warriors said, “a Yiga wouldn’t look like Wild or have the Sheikah Slate.” 

“Yiga can shapeshift, but only with people they have seen before,” Zelda explained, “and if you have the slate, use it!”

Everyone stood still, waiting for someone to move. Wild looked shocked at the accusation and reached for the slate.

Then, he chuckled. It started out low before growing into a maniacal laugh. 

“Should’ve figured I couldn’t trick the Princess,” ‘Wild’ tossed the slate aside. The magic that the Yiga used to transform disappeared from it, revealing its true form to be a pouch. “But I sure had to be convincing to trick his friends.”

The Links all jumped into action, pulling out their weapons and pointing them at the Yiga. Twilight and Legend were the closest to the Yiga and Wind ran in to protect the Princess. The rest stood outside the house, blocking the only exit. 

“Just my luck,” the Yiga twiddled with his sickle, “the Hero has amnesia again? You completely bought it when I said I didn’t know you.”

“Your Highness,” Twilight addressed Zelda, “where is Wild?”

“He left last night, right after arriving,” she answered, “he said he was going to meet you guys.”

The Yiga laughed, “we have him! Soon, his blood will spill along with your’s, Princess.”

Twilight knocked the sickle out of his hands and raised his sword to his neck. The expression on his face was the only thing that kept him from being afraid to hurt Wild. The face was one of malice and mischievousness that Wild would never have. 

“What were your orders?” Twilight demanded, “I know you have a commander.”

“What else but to kill the Princess?” The Yiga smirked, “but I was also told to take out those claiming to be Heroes. Who’s the one with the Master Sword, you said?”

Without warning, the Yiga jumped to the ceiling, grabbing onto the light fixture. He swung, kicking Legend in the face and narrowly missing Twilight’s sword. Zelda ran to the second floor and Wind protected the bottom of the staircase. 

The Yiga teleported outside, behind all the Links, before quickly teleporting back inside. With Twilight distracted, he picked up his sickle and swiped, nicking Twilight in the stomach. 

The fighting went on like that for a couple of minutes. The Yiga teleported out of sight to suddenly strike. A couple of times he mixed it up and teleported to the second floor, scaring the living daylights out of Zelda. That lead to Hyrule taking guard there after he ran inside to help. 

Finally, there was an explosion. The roof partially collapsed and scattered all onto the floor. A big board hit the Yiga in the head and knocked him to the ground. 

“What was that?” Wind asked. 

“Link!” Zelda cried as a figure in blue jumped through the destroyed ceiling, grabbing the Yiga by the cuff of his shirt. 

Wild, the real Wild, was panting. He was covered in blood, whether it was his or someone else’s was in question, and looked tired. His clothes were ripped and his cloak burnt at the edges. His hair was cut unevenly and now only reached his shoulders.

“It’s you!” The Yiga’s eyes widened, “how did you escape?”

“Get better soldiers,” Wild glared, punching him in the face. He pulled out his weapon, an ancient short sword that was now pulsing red. It was nearly broken. 

The Yiga shook his head fearfully, seeing death in his future. He called up to the Princess, putting on a pained expression. 

“Zelda!” He cried, “it’s me, Link, don’t let him kill me.”

Zelda covered her face, “you are not him!”

“Look at him, he’s covered in blood! He’s going to bring the Yiga here.”

Wild punched him again, shutting him up. 

“Link,” Zelda squeaked out, “don’t kill him, please. Let him go, he won’t attack again.”

“Zelda,” Wild huffed, “look away.”

The Yiga never relented. If he let him go, he would just tell his comrades where he lived and how to trick the Heroes. He used to grant them mercy, letting them teleport away. 

Never again. 

“NO!” The Yiga cried as Wild sliced at his throat, silencing him forever. The sword broke mid-strike, exploding sharp fragments everywhere. A painful death, for sure. The head rolled away, morphing back into its original form of a brunet young adult with red eyes.

Wild looked at the Links with crazed eyes. He pointed directly to Twilight. 

“I told you I wouldn’t forget.”


	24. Feral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No questions

“I don’t get paid enough for this,” Warriors cried. 

“We don’t get paid,” Legend snapped. 

“Wild,” Wind cooed to a pile of leaves, “it’s alright, you’re safe.”

A hissing noise came from beneath the leaves and stick flew out, smacking Warriors in the head. ‘Wild’ was an accurate name for this absolute feral creature that they came across while stuck on the plateau. 

They appeared in a new Hyrule a week ago and found themselves hundreds of feet above the country with no foreseeable way down. They figured they were sent there for a reason, so they explored. They found nothing except for a crazed teen who attacked them the moment they crossed what they thought was his home. 

This person couldn’t speak, could barely walk, and was afraid of everything. That fear lead him to only have two responses: fight or flight. He would run away from the largest of the group, like Time, or he would throw things at what he considered the weakest, like the oblivious Warriors who didn’t see him jump out of a tree and almost strangle him the first day they met. 

Collectively, they all agreed to avoid this teen. Well, almost, this is. Wind still pushed the boundaries of how much the teen, who they dubbed Wild, was willing to trust them. 

On the third day of being stuck, Wind came back to Wild’s home and talked to him until he slowly came out of hiding. He had no idea what Wind was saying, but the calmness of his voice allowed him to see that he wasn’t a threat.

That’s how the Links got a new friend. Wild would come out more and more and he would interact with everyone. It was a little touch and go, since he would still run away at the slightest things, but he wasn’t trying to murder them anymore. 

Everything was fine until Wild slept in their camp. Sky had fallen asleep and when woke up he found Wild curled around the Master Sword, like a child might a doll. Sky’s breathing stopped and he silently woke up some of the other Links. 

“What the heck, Sky?” Legend groaned, “what’s so important?” 

“W-wild!” He whispered in fear, “he’s a Hero.”

“There is no way-“ Warriors slowly opened his eyes, freezing at the sight of the teen snoring away, “how?!”

Everyone was awake now, and no one knew what to do. Wind’s grin stretched so far that it made them all nervous of what he and Wild would do if Wild were to join their group. Time cleared his throat, getting everyone’s attention. 

“Let’s wake him up,” he said.

Mistakes were made. 

Sky thought it would be best to remove the weapon from the man who would definitely hurt himself with it before waking him up, but that only caused Wild to jolt out of his sleep. Wild saw all of them standing over him, some with concerned faces, and Sky taking the sword back, which caused him to shriek and run away. 

By run away, he really just crawled. He scrambled away from the camp into the night. 

“Nice going, Sky!” Wind grumbled, “we could’ve been sleeping.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Four brought out his lantern, “we have to figure what’s going on. Why a Hero is like... that.” 

With some hesitance, the group spread out to look for Wild. Wind split into a group with Legend and Warriors and he immediately went to Wild’s leaves, knowing that he would be there. And that is how they arrived in this situation: Wind trying coax Wild out, Legend yawning, and Warriors having a headache. 

“Hisssss!” Wild shook the leaves around him, imitating the stone talus that lived next door. Why weren’t they running away?

“You wanna play again?” Wind asked hopefully, bringing out his baton, “you have to come out if you want to play.”

Wild stopped moving, recognizing the thing that made the wind move to whatever direction he wanted. He liked magic items. 

“This won’t work,” Warriors spat, “he doesn’t understand us and we don’t understand him. We’ll get nowhere.”

“Unless,” Legend thought, “there’s a voice in the sword, yeah? She’s connected to the Hero? Would she be able to understand him?”

“I’ve met Fi,” Warriors nodded, “it is a possibility, but only Sky can hear her right now.”

“Then go get Sky,” Wind waved them away, “I’ll stay with Wild.”

Without complaint, the two ran off in the direction of where Sky’s group went. Wind made some progress, getting Wild to stick his head out. 

“Beluowg,” he muttered gibberish, “akdm wji lma.”

“Soon we can talk,” Wind continued talking in a calm manner, “would you like that? You can tell us how you got here and we can tell you about us!”

“Heoal,” Wild babbled, “kam laojdoen aklldo.”

Wind giggled at the nonsense and Wild was finally out in the open. Wind allowed him to play with his baton, causing him to laugh as his dirty hair swayed in the wind. 

Then, Sky ran up to them, Master Sword in hand. Wild hissed once more and buried himself back into the leaves. 

“Wild,” Sky frowned, “I’m sorry for scaring you. Would you like the Master Sword back?”

He pushed the hilt of the blade into the leaves. Slowly, Wild reached out and touched the shiny blade. 

“Hello, Master,” a robotic voice rattled him, “it is good to see you again.”

“Ahh!” Wild screamed and scuttled backwards.

“It’s okay!” Sky waved his hands, “that’s just Fi, she’s really nice.”

“Master,” Fi addressed Sky, “I am sensing distress from my youngest Master.”

“Thanks, Fi,” Sky chuckled, “Wild, she’s a friend.”

Wild inched forward again, placing a single finger on the sword. This time, Fi spoke slower and less sudden. Wild smiled at finally understanding someone else for the first time ever. 

“He says,” Fi translated to Sky, “‘there is another weird lady in my head.’ how do you respond?”

“Another?” Sky asked. 

Wild pointed with his free hand to the destroyed castle that was just barely visible. 

“It seems the Princess has been calling out to him,” Fi explained, “that is the other voice he can hear.”

“The Princess is still in trouble?!” Wild winced at the sudden loud noise. Sky immediately recognized him mistake and calmed down. “Can you tell him we’re friends, that we’re here to help him?”

“Certainly.”

Wild perked up at that and, to everyone’s surprise, he completely left his tree nook. He grabbed onto Sky’s hand cape and spoke again. 

“Master, he is asking where the scary man is and if he is friend.”

“Time?” A nod. “Yes, he is a friend, too. Do you want to see him?”

Once translated, Wild babbled ten times more. He half crawled, half dragged Sky with him, demanding to go to the scary Link. Wind and Legend found this absolutely hilarious. 

“This is karma for something,” Legend covered his mouth, “I just don’t know what for.”

“Wild,” Wind took Wild’s hand off of Sky, “we can take you Time, you don’t have to hold Sky down. You can take my hand.”

Reluctantly, Wild places his hand in Wind’s and hopped behind the boy. In any other circumstance it would have been funny to see a man being lead by a child. 

They all walked to where Time was, in front of the Temple of Time, and Wild ran to him. He pointed to his sword and then to some ruins in the distance with a smile on his face. 

“Wild?” Time tried to calm him down, “what is the matter?”

Sky jogged up to them and handed Wild the blade of the sword so that Fi could talk to him. 

“Master,” Fi returned, “he wants Master Time to follow him.”

“Why?”

“He is afraid of something.”

“What?” Sky’s eyes widened. He had seen Wild jump into a near freezing river while ricocheting off an explosion. What was he afraid of? Quite scared, Sky relayed the information. 

Time nodded, “I’ll follow you.”

Wild clapped his hands, releasing the Master Sword. He clumsily went down the stone steps of the Temple of Time to a section of destroyed walls. He reached a point where he refused to go any farther, clutching onto a wall and pointing to a strange statue in the middle. 

“These statues are at the temple as well,” Wind realized, “why is he afraid of this one?”

Time shrugged, walking forward at the behest of Wild. Then… there was a rapid beeping.

Everyone froze as the statue started to move and glow with malice. Its head rotated, revealing its eye that was now locked onto Time. Wild curled into a ball, putting his hands over his ears, and whimpered. 

“That, that is not good,” Legend backed up, “is that a beamos?” 

“Not one I recognize,” Time looked at the laser pointing at his chest, “beamos take less time to fire.”

“Regardless,” Warriors pushed Time behind the wall, cutting off the statue’s view point, “I don’t think you should stand in front of it as it tar-“

BOOM! The wall was no more and the beeping grew louder. They all looked to their right to see the statue ready to fire again. 

“Beamos aren’t that strong,” Legend choked on his breath. 

Time looked to Wild, seeing him shake with fear. He took note of the scars that lined his left side. The scars used to be of no consequence, he assumed he got them while living in woods that were full of monsters, but now... well, he wouldn’t be afraid of these for nothing. 

“Do not fear, Wild,” Time readied his sword and charged.

Wild didn’t watch what happened. He blanked out for five minutes and, when he came to, the statue was destroyed. Time showed him a gear that blew off the statue as proof. 

Wild’s eyes had stars in them and he hugged Time in thanks. He had nothing to fear now. 

“You’re welcome,” Time ruffled his hair.

-

“Wild!” Warriors shouted, “get off!”

Weeks ago, he could never be so loud without scaring Wild. He almost missed those days, because, right then, Wild. Wouldn’t. Leave. Him. Alone!

Currently, the feral teen was holding onto the bottom of his scarf and was refusing to let go. 

“No!” He pouted. Overtime, he had learn some words, though ‘no’ was his favorite. “Soft.”

Warriors slapped his own face, “I know it is, and you’ll ruin it if you keep pulling on it.”

“Just let him, War,” Legend walked over, “how can you say no to this face.”

Warriors wanted to punch off that smug smirk. Wild nodded and held on tighter. 

“Leg!” He beamed, “Leg right. Soft.”

“I really hate you,” Warriors glared.

“I am loving everything about this,” Legend laughed, “you guys can’t handle Wild, yet you act so perfect all the time. Maybe this will knock you down a peg- hey!”

His monologue was interrupted as Wild jumped up and swiped Legend’s hat right off his head. He plopped it right on his own and returned to tying himself up in Warrior’s scarf. 

“You little s-“ Legend snapped before stopping. Time had threatened him, saying that he swore in front of Wild he would regret it. “Give it back, you gremlin.”

“No!” Wild repeated, “soft!”

“Oh, how the tables turn,” Warriors crossed his arms in a very sad victory. 

Neither Warriors or Legend would get their items back completely until Wild fell asleep that night. Legend wasted no time taking back his hat, but it was very hard for Warriors to remove Wild from his scarf. He looked so comfortable all swaddled up.

-

Wild was sad. Normally, he would greet Warriors in the morning and snuggle in his scarf, but Warriors was gone. He was called away for duty in his Hyrule for a short time and Wild had been down ever since. 

Twilight felt bad for him, and wanted to help him. He didn’t know how, though. 

One night they were resting by the campfire. Twilight was leaning against a log and Wild was on top of it. Everyone else was asleep and Wild was soon nodding off. 

So, Twilight didn’t expect to be petted. 

It was a cold night and it was the rare time that his pelt was covering his head. Wild’s hand fell over from the log and felt the soft fur, trailing the pelt calmly. 

“Soft...” he murmured.

Oh, Hylia, Twilight froze. He couldn’t move, that would shock Wild. Not to mention, Wild was smiling just like when he had Warrior’s scarf. He must really like soft things. 

Wait a minute...

No, he was not going to do that. 

But he could, everyone else was asleep. No one would see and Wild certainly couldn’t tell. 

What if he gave it away?

Twilight came to a decision and silently transformed into a wolf. Wild’s eyes grew and he hugged the wolf around the neck. 

“Soft!” He babbled, “soft, soft!”

Twilight laid down next to the log and placed his head near Wild’s. Wild petted him and slowly fell asleep with a happy expression on his face. 

Twilight nodded off, too, not even thinking of what excuse he would tell everyone in the morning.


	25. Chateau Malon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Repost cause I’m deleting my Drunk History fic, cause I don’t think I’m continuing it anytime soon. TW for alcohol? It’s not that bad

“Well,” Malon sat down at the table after a long day of work, “I can’t thank you boys enough for your work today and yesterday!”

“It was not-“ Twilight was about to say before he was interrupted.

Warriors decided that was the perfect time to mess around with some cabinets and he knocked something over. It was a bottle with a bright red label on it and Warriors was smiling like a kid.

“You can thank us by pouring us some of this stuff!” He gleamed, “it’s been a while since I’ve had a good drink.”

Malon looked at the bottle and laughed. Time, on the other hand, had one hand hanging over his wife’s shoulder and was glaring at Warriors.

“Honey,” the farmer slipped out of her husband’s grasp and grabbed the bottle from the captain, “you couldn’t handle this drink. Why don’t we get you something weaker?”

It was Warriors time to laugh, “don’t worry about me, I’m a soldier! I’ve had some drinks that could kill a Molduga.”

Malon sent a mischievous look to Time, who just slowly shook his head. Malon ignored the action and took out some glasses.

“Your funeral, honey,” she shrugged as she poured two cups, “just remember that I did warn you.”

She handed Warriors his cup and turned to the rest of the group, “any of you want a drink? Less potent, though.”

In the end, Twilight got a small cup, Legend got a medium, and Sky, Hyrule, and Wild declined.

“What about you?” Warriors, still holding his undrunk cup, asked Four.

“Maybe another time,” he responded with a shrug.

“Can you even drink?” Wild asked.

“Yeah!” Four protested, “I’m past the age limit of my Hyrule. I’m not a kid.”

“You’re either eleven or thirty-five and I could care less the actual answer,” Warriors pointed out.

Slowly, Wind spoke up, “can I have some?”

The room went quiet. Every head turned and looked to the thirteen year old asking for a drink.

Malon put a hand over her face to hide her smile, “you’re a bit too young to be doing that sort of thing.”

“But I’ve done it before!” Wind protested and that caused Twilight to spit out his drink.

“What?!” Twilight coughed.

Wind shrugged, “I’ve lived on a pirate ship for almost two years. Any injuries you get are cured by rum.”

“That’s not a habit you should do,” Time spoke, “you can drink on your ship, but in this house you won’t be.”

Wind huffed and crossed his arms, “this is dumb! Tetra would let me drink…”

The people with drinks started theirs, Warriors finally sipping his, and the others started talking.

“So, Time,” Legend asked after finishing his, “you aren’t going to get some?”

Time shook his head, “don’t drink.”

“You’re kidding me?” Warriors spluttered, “then who’s this drink for?”

He pointed to the other glass with his half empty cup and saw someone pick it up.

“For me, of course,” Malon smiled downed the whole glass, “this is my signature drink: Chateau Malon! The best and strongest drink you can get only from me.”

Time snorted and Malon glared at him.

“All right,” she huffed, “my husband was the one who found the recipe, but I’ve changed it enough to make it my own.”

“Wait a minute,” Legend asked Time, “you don’t drink, but you have a recipe for one?”

Time just shrugged.

“Well,” Warriors finished the rest of his cup, “that was easy. In fact, if you are so kind as to allow me another glass, I think I could have a couple more.”

“It’ll hit you in a moment,” Malon smiled, “but how ‘bout we have a little game?”

Warriors raised an eyebrow as Malon dug into the cabinet and pulled out two full bottles of Chateau Malon.

“First one to finish gets,” her eyes glimmered, “300 rupees!”

That was when Time stood up and took the bottles, “we don’t want to kill the boy! Grant him some mercy.”

“No fun,” the farmer frowned.

“I can handle it!” Warriors argued. No one beat him in a drinking contest.

Time gave a look of disbelief before looking back at Malon, “we don’t need the money.”

“The fence broke and we don’t have the supplies to replace it with. Plus, I want to change the gate and maybe get some more equipment.”

The couple were then caught in a starring contest that lasted a while. Everyone watched until Time sighed and handed Warriors a bottle.

“If you die,” he glared, “I saying it was suicide for doing this.”

Warriors smirked and clinked his bottle to Malon’s.

“Cheers,” he smiled.

“Good luck.”

Time shook his head slowly as they all watched the spectacle of what happened that night.

Needless to say, the fence was fixed by next week and Warriors was tossed into a water troff with only a half bottle gone.

No one out drinks Malon. That was the story learned by the Links.


	26. Three Days

Time had a journal. He kept it with him at all times, even sleeping with it wrapped in his arms. He never let anyone see the inside. 

This was not that weird. Wild had journals from his dead friends and he used his slate as a diary. Wind was constantly writing letters back to his sister. What caught Legend’s attention, though, was the fact that it was Time. 

Time was secretive and never told them what he was thinking. Legend’s curiosity was going insane at the idea that Time’s thoughts could be written down there. He had to know. 

“Time,” he asked for the fifth time, “what’s that journal for?”

Time smirked, closing the book, “haven’t you asked this before?”

“Leave him alone,” Twilight called from the fire pit, “I thought you learned your lesson with Wild?”

“Never!” Legend proclaimed, “c’mon, Time. Just tell me it’s a diary or something.”

“Do you really need to know?”

“...yes?” 

Time laughed before walking away to sleep, “see you tomorrow, Legend.”

Legend would not be stopped. He waited. 

Wind and Sky were the first to pass out. Wild and Twilight left to scavenge monster parts. Hyrule stared at him cautiously before thinking nothing of it and going to sleep. Finally, Four and Warriors drifted off. 

His mission had begun. He grabbed his magic cape, going invisible, and tipped toed to where Time was sleeping. Like always, his journal sat clutched in his hands. 

“Could you be anymore creepy?” Legend thought. Time apparently slept with his scared eye open. The pure whiteness of it freaked him out a bit, but he didn’t hesitate. 

Slowly, Legend grabbed the journal and pulled it away. His heart stopped when Time’s ear flickered in his sleep. Eventually, he got the book and himself booked it.

“Oh, Hylia!” He breathed once he was far enough away. If Time found out he would kill him. 

Eh, he shrugged, it would be worth it. 

Opening the book, Legend didn’t know what he was expecting. Letters to Malon? A memoir? Whatever it was, he was not expecting sketches of everyone. 

Each Link had a page. There was a sketch of what they looked like, their title and general information, and some notes from Time. Twilight’s page said “Relative? and Wild’s said “also related?”. There was even a page of Time, full of drawings of when he was a kid to when he was an adult. 

Legend flipped to the page that had him. The drawing was good, he had to admit. There was an arrow pointing to his different colored hair streak that was labeled “pink.” His summary was listed as “Hero of Legend - after my death, fought Ganon multiple times, Hyrule, Lorule, Labrynna, Holodrum, and Hytopia.” There were little tidbits such as how he hated Hylia, was friends with Ravio (who had a mini sketch as well), and was too nosy for his own good. There was a counter that was marked five times and was under the heading of “asked about journal.”

Okay, a little weird.

Legend looked through the rest of the journal. There were pages on every person from Time’s Hyrule, and some from beyond. Malon had two pages and a timeline of their life together. His Princess Zelda had her own page as well, noting all of their interactions. 

It seemed that this was an encyclopedia of every person Time had ever met. He wrote down what they looked like, how they acted, and how they knew him.

Legend groaned, this wasn’t interesting! It was just a weird way to categorize his life. There wasn’t even anything about his adventures, except for one page that only read “see first journal, with Malon.”

“This was a waste of time,” he walked back to Time and set the book back in its place, “now I gotta ask Malon?”

Legend left. The next morning Time gave no indication that he noticed that his journal was taken. Legend didn’t think about it for weeks after. 

“Where’s my journal?” Time asked one day. 

“Your journal?” Twilight glared at Legend, “what did you do?”

“Please,” he rolled his eyes, “I had nothing to do with this.”

“Where’d you last see it?” Wild asked. 

Time frowned, “I don’t know. Where are we again?”

“Your time?” Twilight arched an eyebrow. 

“Hyrule?” What was with him today?

“Yes,” Twilight answered, “where else would we be? Are you alright?”

Time didn’t directly answer, “I need to speak with the Princess.”

“You mean your Queen Zelda?” 

“Yes.”

He didn’t respond anymore. Twilight ran up to him and tried to get him to talk and find out what the problem was. 

“Malon told me that if you ever asked for the Princess specifically that you should go home first,” he explained. 

Legend started to eavesdrop, he’d never heard this before. 

“Malon? Why?” Time whispered. 

Twilight shook his head, “I don’t know. I think we should listen and go to the Ranch.”

Time nodded, “of course.”

Wild was the one who gathered everyone to head off to Lon Lon Ranch. Wind was excited to see the animals again and ran forward with Sky. Legend, meanwhile leaned near Time. 

“So,” he dragged out the word, “ever find your journal?”

Time huffed, “no.”

“What’s so important about it?” He pressed. 

Time glanced at him before returning his gaze to the field, “that is none of your business.”

Legend bit his lip. Why did he have to be so secretive! 

Time remained silent until they reached the ranch. He was so unaware of his surroundings that when his Epona ran up to him he jumped. 

“Oh,” he patted her neck, “hello, Epona.”

“Back so soon?” Malon opened the front door and smiled, “I would’ve thought you fellas would be searching for your enemy.”

“Malon?” Time gasped. 

Everyone looked at Time awkwardly. Why was he acting so weird? Apparently, Malon knew. She frowned and gesture for him to follow her inside. 

“He ask for the Princess?” She asked Twilight who nodded, “let’s go, Link. I’ve got a copy of your journal.”

Time followed her inside and Malon told them to wait there for a bit. Legend was confused. 

“What was that about?” He asked to anyone around him. 

“Maybe he’s sick?” Wind suggested. 

“Whatever it is,” Twilight poked Legend in the chest, “it is none of our business.”

“You act like I invade people’s privacy all the time,” Legend slapped his hand away, “I only do that once a month.”

“A gentleman,” Twilight walked to Epona and started to bring her back to the stable. 

Legend grinned once he was out of sight. It had been a month since he’d taken the journal. Time for more privacy invading!

He slipped away from everyone’s view and found the window of Malon and Time’s room. He put on his magic cape and watched.

“I never find Navi?” He made out Time saying. Time was sitting on his bed when another journal in his hand. The page he was on had drawings of three fairies with different colored ink. 

Malon, who was standing in front of him, sighed, “I’m sorry, Honey. We’re still looking for her, though.”

“And Tatl?” he changed the page of the book, “I thought she was just hiding. That she stole my journal.”

“Her and Tael visit sometimes,” Malon smiled, “we could invite them over soon if you want to see them again.”

Time shook his head, “it’s alright. Thank you, Malon.”

“You know,” Malon sat next to her husband, “even if you don’t remember it, I can see the stress gets to you. You’re safe here; you don’t have to be strong with me.”

Don’t remember? Legend was intrigued, what did that mean? 

Something in Time cracked and a tear spilled out of his eye. He put his face in his hands and Malon hugged him. 

“Why did they leave?” He asked solemnly, “I have no idea what’s going on. Tatl explained everything to me.”

“It’s okay,” Malon soothed, “it’s gonna be okay.”

“How do I live? I can’t even recognize people who are supposed to be my friends.”

“Your journal is what Tatl use to do for you, Honey. It usually works just fine.”

“It didn’t, though,” Time waved the book around, “I woke up and I had no idea what was going on. I still think I have a fairy. I’m a kid again, except I’m not...”

He pushed Malon away from him, refusing to let her near him. 

“The only reason I know you is from Termina,” he confessed, “how do you know, or I know, that my feelings for you are for you.”

“Because I knew you before and after your mind went, well, you know,” she smiled, “I can see how much you love me and I love you just the same. Our time together might be short in your mind, but it lasts forever.”

“Stay away,” Time inched backward as she tried to touch his shoulder. 

“Link, Honey?” Malon cooed, “I’m here to help.”

“The moon,” he closed his eyes, “the moon’s going to fall in 2 days, 12 hours, and 34 minutes.”

“The moon isn’t falling anymore.”

“You will forget me in 2 days, 12 hours, and 33 minutes.”

“I won’t forget you! This isn’t Termina.”

“Cremia, go away!”

“My name is Malon, you know that. You are at Lon Lon Ranch in Hyrule. You are Link, Captain of the Royal Guard to Queen Zelda, and you are married to me.”

“You are supposed to be at Romani Ranch, milking cows until 6:00 PM on the dot. Tatl told me I do not need to be at the Ranch until tonight at midnight.”

“This is Lon Lon Ranch and Tatl is no longer here, Link.”

“In 2 days, 12 hours, and 32 minutes you will die if I do not hurry.”

Time started rattling off numbers. Counting down from sixty and restarting once hit zero. Malon tried her best to coax him out of his panic attack, but she wasn’t able to do anything. Legend took this as his cue to leave. 

He walked to the other end of the house, taking off his cloak, and slid down. What the f*ck? 

“Legend!” Four ran up to him moments later, “where have you been?”

“I was just looking around,” he lied, “what?”

Four helped him up, “Malon says Time is sick. He’ll be better in about three days, until then she advise to not stay at the ranch or else we would get infected.”

A good cover up for what Legend just saw. Time was experiencing some kind of disassociating delusion or memory loss. It could be a periodic disorder, or some curse. 

Whatever it was unnerved Legend.

“Alright?” Legend looked to Four, “where are we staying?”

“We’re going to Castletown and staying at an inn there,” Four answered, “everyone except Twilight. He’s staying here to take care of the animals while Malon takes care of Time.”

Really? Malon had to have asked Twilight specifically to stay behind. Maybe he would be told what was going on. 

He would definitely bug him later. 

Legend followed Four to the front of the house where Malon was waiting. She looked more tired than she did about ten minutes ago and waved them goodbye. 

“So sorry that he got sick,” she apologized, “happens once a blue moon.”

“We understand, Malon,” Sky nodded, “wish him well from us.”

She smiled bittersweetly, “of course.”

Legend took one last glance at Twilight before walking out. 

-

Malon lost all of the tenseness in her body once they were past the gate. She grabbed Twilight’s hand without warning. 

“Malon?” He looked concerned, “what’s wrong?”

“We haven’t been honest with y’all,” she brought him into the house, “and he’s gonna be mad at me for telling you, but you need to know.”

She showed him to the master bedroom and opened the door a bit. Twilight just barely made out Time’s figure curled into a ball and rocking back in forth. He was still counting. 

“3, 2, 1,” he whimpered, “2 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes. 60, 59...”

Malon closed the door softly and looked at Twilight with sad eyes. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Twilight gaped. 

Malon told him to sit down at the kitchen table and she told him a story.

Once there was a little boy who had saved the world. He lost his best friend in the process and went to go find her. This friend meant everything to the little boy, as she was practically a mother, so he would go to the farther reaches if it meant meeting her again. 

His travels took him to another country, a land of death and despair, where he was attacked. Suddenly, the little boy had to save the world again. 

All was good for a while. He found a new friend who helped him plan out his adventure and told him what time it was. He met new people who looked exactly like those in his first adventure, though they acted somewhat different. 

Then it came to an end. See, the little boy only had three days until the bad guy would win. So, he made sure three days never came. He would reverse time over and over again and become strong enough to beat the villain. 

The fairy warned him of abusing the power of time, but he had to save everybody. He needed to keep rewinding. He had to take the stress of him remembering while others forgot. 

Three days turned into weeks. The weeks turned into months. The months into years. And so on and so on. The little boy wasn’t quite so little anymore.

Eventually, the stress got to him. The days would blend together into mush that it no longer mattered if he tried to remember anything of it. He went through the same towns, the same dungeons, and the same monsters, and none of it mattered. 

The fairy had to keep track of everything for him now. The boy’s mind was fried and shut off up to the first three days. It was like he became one with the citizens of the country, who forgot whenever the loop restarted. Only the fairy remembered, and she tried her best to finish up the quest quickly. 

When the bad guy was finally slain, the fairy and boy parted. He thought everything would be fine now that the time travel was over. 

The three days stayed. Every three days, between the stroke of midnight to six in the morning, the boy would forget once more. The only way he knew time passed was with his bomber’s notebook, which listed everything he and the fairy did. 

He would make more journals, filling them with faces of those he met and the timeline of his life. A quick note of the given circumstances would be on the first page and that would be all he needed to live his life normally. Muscle memory served the boy in his fights and a nagging feeling would draw him close to those he cared about. 

Unless his journals were to vanish. The boy would be back in the country, this time friendless and alone, and with an impossible task set before him. He would be surrounded by strangers and have to play their games to not give himself away.

Malon finished her story, letting it sink in. Twilight couldn’t even begin to understand. This was different than what Ilia and Wild had, those were somewhat reversible. This? He didn’t know what this was. 

“Time forgets everything up the beginning of his second adventure,” he spoke slowly, “every three days?”

“Yes,” Malon admitted sadly, “he needs to read his journal first thing on the ‘dawn of the first day,’ as he calls it, or he spirals, like now.”

“Is this why you told me to alert you if he mentions the Princess?”

“From his perspective, the Queen is still a Princess, so it’s a pretty good way to tell when he doesn’t know.”

“He doesn’t remember us, ever?” Twilight felt a pain in his chest. 

“I’m afraid not,” she laughed bitterly, “you should have seen his face the night after he told me about you. That was the third day. He was confused as to why eight boys were in our house. He at least has slight memory of his connections, the journals just reinforce them.”

“Is there no way to fix this?” There had to be a way. There always was. 

She shook her head, “it’s best when we have a fairy to help him. They can naturally communicate with him and more easily explain than a journal ever could. That’s why we’re searching for…for her.”

“But no cures?”

“It’s psychological, so no medicines could fix this. And I’m the only one he can talk to about this stuff.”

“Why tell me this?” Twilight shook, “if there’s nothing we can do.”

Malon placed her hand over his, “because I know how much you care for Time. If this was to happen again, someone needs to explain. I won’t always be here. Besides... I saw Legend eavesdropping, I knew you would be the least likely to tell him the full story without Link’s permission.”

“Legend?” Twilight snarled, “I told him to leave it alone.”

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll tell Link to ‘accidentally lose some deku seeds’ in his bag. That is, when he’s better.”

“So, we just wait? Until he forgets he’s having an existential crisis?”

“Now you’re getting it,” she squeezed his hand, “thank you for helping. Maybe one day he’ll be better again.”

It would be a long 2 days, 11 hours, and 39 minutes.


	27. Miracle of Miracles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

The Links got snowed in on one winter night at Lon Lon Ranch, so Malon had an idea to entertain themselves. She pulled out a deck of cards and they started playing a game of her father’s invention. Time’s face was one of disgust. 

“Is this really wise?” He asked, “cabin fever mixed with your father’s game?”

Malon grinned, “what are you talking about? This is the *perfect* time to play it.”

The game was a confusing one. Its name was Castletown and it involved varying rounds of trying to get the correct assortment of cards. There were a few more rules, but that was the basic gist. 

Malon and Time sat down and started shuffling the cards. Twilight already knew how to play and was explaining it to the others. Legend, Warriors, Hyrule, and Sky were all the rest playing. Wind went to go mess with something and Four was reading a book. Wild, meanwhile, was cooking various food, entertaining himself by making the weirdest concoctions.

“So,” Twilight finished explaining, holding up a joke card, “you do not want this in your hand at the end of the round. Got it?”

“And remember!” Wild lied from the kitchen, he had already played the game, too, “aces are worth 13 and 1!”

“No, they are not!” Twilight corrected quickly, “he’s just petty.”

Legend absently minded, “yeah, whatever, let’s get going. How long is this game?”

It was all downhill from there. It was a six hour game, max. 

“Are you done yet?” Wind called, already bored. 

Malon laughed, “we just started! Time, it’s your turn.”

Everyone groaned as Time was the first one to lay down his cards. He didn’t even bother to hide his smirk. 

“Miracle of miracles!” Sky shouted when his turn came, he drew a card he needed. 

“You consider that a miracle?” Legend asked. 

Sky shrugged, “tis the season.”

No one else laid down there cards for another few go arounds, except for Malon. Everyone was starting to get antsy as they didn’t want to be last. 

“I still don’t understand this game,” Hyrule muttered. 

Warriors fidgeted with his scarf, “I don’t think we’re supposed to. The confusion is apart of some kind of torture, isn’t it?”

“This game is hell,” Time nodded, “I still don’t understand it.”

“Yeah, right,” Malon rolled her eyes, “first time you played you beat my father by five points and he has never forgiven you.”

“Wait,” Legend froze, “this game has points?”

Twilight groaned, “did you not listen to my explanation?”

“That explanation was more complicated than all of my adventures combined! What the hell does buying mean in this?”

Twilight decided he was a lost cause. Let Legend suffer, and a happy holidays to him. 

After twenty minutes, they somehow finished the first round. Laying out all their cards, they counted. Time had won and Legend was now in last place. Twilight noticed a particular card in his hand that attributed to his loss. 

“I don’t you to get rid of this card!” Twilight held up his joker. 

Legend scoffed, “no, you didn’t! No one said anything about that.”

“Legend, I am going to murder you.”

“TWILIGHT!” Wild came over, just in time to stop a crime from happening, “eat this.”

He held out some weird bread that had stuff mixed into it. Twilight took it cautiously and looked at it. 

“Why?”

“Because,” Wild explained, “I ate it and now my tongue is numb. I feel on fire.”

“What?! What is it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t like it, but I ate a bunch.”

“Why did you eat it if you didn’t like it?” Sky looked at him with concern. 

“Bored. Now I am seeing stars and it looks cool, but Twi told me if that ever happened I should seek medical attention.”

Time sighed while Twilight starting biting his pelt in anger, “Four, what are you reading?”

Four looked up from his spot nearby, “a book on medicine.”

“Help Wild so he doesn’t die.”

Four nodded and dragged Wild over, asking him some questions. Twilight threw away the bread and the second round started. 

“Can I have that card?” Warriors asked Legend, who looked to Malon. 

“Do I have to give it to him? Can I say no out of spite?”

Malon’s eyes glimmered, like she had been waiting for someone to ask that question. She nodded fiercely and Time looked like he regretted that rule coming up. 

“F*ck you!” Warriors glared and Legend flipped him off in return. 

A little while later, Sky proclaimed “miracle of miracles” once again and being able to lay down his cards first. 

“That’s two miracles,” Hyrule counted, “wish I was that lucky.”

“Are you done?” 

“No, Wind,” Malon answered, “you’ll probably fall asleep before we finish.”

“What happens if we don’t finish today?” Sky mused. 

“Then it’ll be morning,” she smiled, “we don’t stop this game until someone is dead.”

“Someone’s about to be,” Warriors pointed a dagger at Legend. 

“If we switch worlds we’ll have to stop,” Legend pointed out hopefully. 

Malon shook her head, “tell that Dark Link to hold off on this battle or else he joins the game.”

Another round passed with only a few more groans. Legend shrieked so loud at missing a card that he needed that Hyrule though he went deaf. Four released Wild back into the kitchen, saying that he would be fine. 

“So,” Sky started to speak, “how was this game made?”

Malon thought, “my father says he made it, but he might’ve taken it from somewhere else.”

“Never play with Talon,” Time whispered, “he does not take well to losing.”

“Hey, Twi,” Wild was back. 

“Wild,” Twilight glanced from his cards to his ward, “please tell me you are not eating more poisonous foods?”

“I think it’s not poisonous,” Wild smiled, “but my mouth is still burning so I ate some cake I had and now I want to die.”

“Why are you smiling?” Wind asked. 

“I’ve always wondered what that cake tasted like.”

“Makes sense.”

“No,” Twilight slammed his face into the table, “that does not make sense. Wild, give me the slate. You’re grounded.”

“But-“

“No buts!”

Wild pouted as he handed over his precious device and went to find some milk. The game continued and they made it to the fourth round. They were two and a half hours in and half of them were begging for the sweet release of death. 

“This will be the longest round yet,” Legend rubbed his forehead.

Five minutes later...

“This is bullsh*t,” Time said suddenly. Everyone blinked at their leader’s language, but it looked like he meant what he said. 

Legend, contrary to his prediction, won the round the first time it hit his turn. He sat there smugly and proudly. 

“Out!”

“BRUH!” Warriors chucked his cards into the trash. 

“How?” Twilight slammed his fist on the table. 

“Well, well, well, Mr. Listen-Class-is-in-Session,” Legend stood up, “need help counting your points?”

“Wait!” Hyrule raised up his hands, “we’re switching!”

“Oh, thank Hylia!” Time kissed his wife goodbye, “we are never playing this again.”

Malon bopped him the nose, “you say that every year, Darling.”

“Finally!” Wind cheered and they were sent out of the snowstorm.

“Miracle of miracles,” Sky was ready to sleep after the game.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was based off my family’s yearly playing of a game called Shanghai and is so close to becoming a funeral everytime i sweAR I WILL FIGHT EVERY-
> 
> *cough*
> 
> Anyway, most of what happened in this fic was what happened in this years game. My mom kept eating some weird foods combined and my sister’s boyfriend didn’t listen to the rules. My little brother kept asking when we were finished and we ended the game early because my sister had to leave. 
> 
> This was written mostly for me, since some of the anger comes from knowing the game. 
> 
> Merry Christmas everyone, it’s been wonderful year writing for y’all.


	28. When it Rains

“We need to get to cover,” Wild said out of nowhere. He was swiping through his slate when something alarmed him enough to put to a nearby cave that held a shrine. 

“Why?” Twilight asked, “monsters?”

Wild shook his head, “we’re in Faron and the weather just changed suddenly. I’m safe, but I don’t think Time or Warriors want to take their chances getting struck by lightning.”

Warriors’ scared arm ached a little at the thought of another elemental attack. Time didn’t show it, but he was remembering the not very fun time of Jabu Jabu’s belly. 

“Come on,” Wild directed them to the cave. 

Some of them were confused at the threat of lightning. It wasn’t even raining. They decided it was best to follow Wild’s lead in his hazard he called a country. 

Once inside the cave, Wild set up a fire. He dropped some wood from his slate and fired a single fire arrow at it. 

“We’ll be here for a while,” he explained, “might be staying the night.”

“Will it seriously last that long?” Twilight sat down. 

“At least we had warning. I was once stuck fifty feet over Farosh’s path while it was raining and couldn’t move a muscle for 1 hour. If I did I would’ve been shocked so hard that I drown in the lake below. After that, some lizalfos started swarming below me and I had to wait for 11 hours until it stopped.”

“Cub, why?” He received only a shrug in response. 

“Dibs on sleeping in the cool shrine thing!” Wind claimed his spot on the elevator and laid of his bedroll. 

Everyone got comfortable and soon fell asleep to the cackling fire. There wasn’t yet a could in the sky when they did so.

Hours later, something woke Sky up. A large boom jolted him from his sleep and he opened his eyes in time to be blinded by another flash of light. 

He stood up, alert. That looked like Demise’s magic! Grabbing the Master Sword, he walked to the cave’s mouth and looked for any sign of a threat. 

He can do this, he became stoic. He had fought Demise before, he could do it again. He was stronger now, and with back up, nothing could hurt h-

BANG! Another lightning bolt nearly missed Sky, setting a nearby tree ablaze. Sky pointed his sword all around, looking for the source of the magic. 

He can do this, he repeated, he can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He can-

The Master Sword started sparkling. Sky’s mind only had a split second to process what was happening. Sadly, he did the wrong thing. Following his instinct, he lifted his sword for a skyward strike. 

He can do this.

Something was splattering his face. Water? His hairs tingled and stood up as the lightning arced down. 

He can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He can do this. He could do this...

“Sky?” Wild walked out of the cave and spotted him, “Sky!”

He couldn’t do this! He wasn’t ready to face Demise again. 

Sky didn’t have time to look at Wild as the lightning struck. Instead of being absorbed by his sword, it moved through it and into Sky. He only felt pain and stars filled his head. He was vaguely aware of Wild running up to him, tossing the Master Sword out of his grip and into the water below. 

“F-Fi,” Sky weakly grabbed where it used to be. 

“I’ll get it later,” Wild summoned a yellow potion and poured it into his mouth, “stay with me, Sky.”

“Demise...” Sky couldn’t control his mouth anymore, he couldn’t feel his right arm. 

“You’re not dying,” Wild misunderstood, “holding a metal weapon during a thunderstorm, what were you thinking?”

Thunderstorm? Was that like the Thunderhead? He never got hurt there unless it was from monsters.

“Lightning is survivable, you don’t have to worry. It’s gonna hurt a lot in the coming days, though. Stay focused, okay?”

Why was water hitting his face? It hurt so much. The water covered his eyes and stung his arm. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t-

“Sky? Sky!”

Sky stopped moving completely.

Wild started to panic. He placed his head onto Sky’s chest. There was no pulse. 

“No, no, no!” He mumbled. What did the stable owners do to him when this happened?

He place his hands on Sky and started to push. He counted under his breath in his closest approximation of CPR. If he remembered the lessons correctly...

Hylia! He didn’t think anyone else would be as stupid as him to get struck by lightning. He would’ve actually remembered how to do that. 

It wasn’t working. Sky wouldn’t move again and his heart wouldn’t start. 

Think, think! Wild slapped his head. Zelda must’ve told him something about when a heart stops. 

She did some short research on health, a few dealing with cardiac arrest. A few things would work, she said: CPR, potions, or a stronger shock. 

“Sorry, Sky,” Wild pulled out his electric spear. Added with the chainmail he wore, if he survived this would scar him forever, but there was no time to remove it. 

He hoisted the spear up and jolted it, not actually hitting Sky while still shaking the magic loose. A spark traveled from the spear and shook Sky around.

Wild stood still, breathing heavily. Please, he prayed, wake up. 

There was a soft flicker in Sky’s eyes, though they didn’t open completely. Wild took a sigh of relief and felt for Sky’s pulse again. It was back to normal. 

“Guys?” He called out to the others, they had to be awake from the loud noises, “help!”

“Wild?” Thank goodness! It was Hyrule and Legend, they didn’t wear a lot of metal. 

“Legend, take off your bracelet and rings and then help me!”

Legend was about to ask why, but then caught sight of Sky’s body. He nodded and did as commanded. Him and Hyrule walked over to Wild and helped him carry Sky back into the cave.

Days later, Sky woke up in someone’s bed. He was immediately struck by home much pain he was in and winced. Where was him?

He looked around and noticed a photo of people from different races and a desk. Sitting at the desk was a sleeping Wild. He looked like he had been writing something before passing out. This must’ve been his house. 

“W-wild?” He managed to choke out. 

Despite how quiet he was, Wild woke up the second he made a sound. He must have been on alert. 

“Sky!” Wild ran to him, knocking his chair over, “are you awake? Like actually awake this time?”

“What?” He was confused. 

“You’ve been in an out of consciousness,” Wild explained, “but you’ve been more and more active each time. How are you feeling?”

“Where ev’bdy?” Sky slurred, trying to sit up. He couldn’t, so he laid back down with a hiss.

“At the inn. How are you feeling?”

“Dmis, where he?”

“Demise?” Wild raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know who that is. Sky, you were struck by lightning, your mind might be a little confused.”

Sky shook his head, “lihtn mea Dmis.”

He tried to get up again, more fierce than before, and Wild tried to get him to settle down. It was easy on Wild’s part, as he passed out moments later.

Sky woke up the next day, but feeling clearer than he had ever since the accident. Wild was awake this time and was sitting right next to him. 

“Morning, Sky,” he smiled. 

“This hurts so much,” Sky groaned. 

Wild laughed, “you’re actually mentioning your pain this time. You must be back.”

“What happened?” He could barely register anything from the moment except fear. 

Wild explained everything. He woke up at six in the morning like he always did and noticed Sky was missing. He walked outside the cave and saw him raising his sword to the heavens. He resuscitated him, dragged him back to the cave, and the next morning he teleported both of them to his house. Sky had been awake three separate times since then, none yet to stick. 

“The others arrived two days ago,” Wild finished, “they’ll be happy to know you’re awake. Do you want food?”

Sky nodded weakly. He took some pumpkin soup from Wild and smiled at it. 

“I knew it was your favorite,” Wild left him alone and told him he was going to get some supplies from town. Sky was left alone as he ate.

He wanted to sit up to eat, but, as he did, his chest felt like it was on fire. Hesitantly, Sky removed his blankets with his left hand and saw the damage. Someone had removed his chainmail and tunic, and for good reason. He had burns surrounding the entirety of his torso, with his chest having the worst of it. His right arm had branches burned in that trailed all the way down to his hip and probably to his feet. 

He had Wild beat at scars now, he laughed weakly. That magic did a number on him. Magic?

He remembered why he was so afraid. The lightning was so similar to that of Demise’s magic, but it had to be different. He couldn’t control it with the Master Sword. If it wasn’t Demise, then who cast it?

Wild returned after ten minutes of Sky pondering. He opened the door and was mumbling to himself. 

“It’s gonna rain again? It is not our week,” he noticed Sky sitting up, “oh, you shouldn’t move, Sky.”

Sky looked over the railing at him, “who cast the lightning?”

“Cast it?” Wild chuckled, “what am I supposed to say? Hylia?”

“Hylia!?” Sky straighten up before compressing in pain, “why would she do that?”

Wild looked at him with concerned, “I was joking. It was just normal lightning.”

“What part of that was normal?” He shook with fear. He knew that the Calamity, or whatever Wild called it, caused malice to spread all over his Hyrule, but did that really mean that some form of Demise’s power took hold. Did he unleash his fury randomly in the only way he could now that he was gone?

Wild shrugged, “it mostly only happens in Faron, or Thunder Plateau. It can happen rarely, though, whenever it rains.”

“Rains?”

“Yeah, rain. You know, the stuff that falls from the sky?”

It wasn’t ringing a bell. He sometimes hated that he was the first of all of them, he ended up not knowing some concepts. Four would still never let him forget how he didn’t know what a princess was. 

Wild walked upstairs and pointed out the window, “look, it’s raining right now. Perfectly normal. Is your brain still messed up?”

Sky looked out the window and saw water pouring down. It was to a lesser extent than the day when he got struck, but it was still heavy enough that anyone would want to take cover. 

At that moment, his fight or flight response kicked in. A slight rumbling in the distance caused him to pull the blankets over him and hide. Goddess, he was acting like a child!

“Sky?” Wild leaned over, “are you okay?”

“N-no,” Sky stuttered out. Why was he like this? 

“Do you... do you know what rain is?”

Wild could barely make out the tiny ‘no’. He smiled softly, it was just like him when he first encountered rain. He was probably the only one in the group who wouldn’t make fun of Sky for not knowing rain. 

“Zelda says that when water evaporates,” he sat on the bed and started explaining, “it goes into the air and forms clouds. When the clouds get so much water, rain happens. Water falls out of the clouds and something lightning forms, but I don’t know how that happens.”

“Wild, I lived *above* the clouds my whole life,” Sky bit before making himself smaller, “s-sorry.”

“It’s alright. You have nothing to fear, this rain can’t hurt you.”

“Didn’t,” Sky lowered the blankets a little bit, “didn’t Wind say that water falling from the sky was how his Hyrule was flooded.”

Wild frowned, “that’s different. It rains a lot in my Hyrule, but we are no longer in danger of flooding. Sky, please, just look outside.”

With some muffled agreement, Sky came out from hiding and looked out the window. Through the glass, he could hear the patter of raindrops hitting the roof and he could see children playing in the mud. 

“Should they be out there?” He asked, “isn’t it dangerous?”

“Not if they’ve taken precautions,” Wild pointed at Sky’s scars, “they aren’t wearing any metal. Which means, no more pointing a sword directly into a lightning bolt.”

More thunder was heard and Sky’s head never moved so fast. 

“It’s okay!” Wild said quickly before calming down, “it’s okay, the thunder is too far to hurt anyone. You know, there’s this game Cottla taught me to figure out if it’s safe. You wanna hear it?”

He received no response, but he continued anyway. 

“After you hear some thunder, you count until the next strike. That’s how far away the lightning is. You wanna try? One, two, three...”

“Four, five,” Sky joined along. 

They made it up to thirty-five before having to stop. 

“See, it’s safe!”

“Is this accurate?” Sky didn’t really believe in a child’s game. 

Wild grinned, “who knows. There’s another version where you go from the flash to the thunder, but Cottla live in Kakariko and you can’t actually see any of the lightning strikes there. Regardless, I know it’s safe.”

He showed him his Sheikah Slate, pointing to the weather prediction. There was only rain planned, no lightning. 

More thunder. Even though he knew he was fine, Sky couldn’t help but be afraid. Wild noticed his distressed and came up with a plan. 

“I’m gonna go play with those kids,” he decided, “and when you see that I won’t die, you’ll know it’s safe.”

“Wait, Wild!” Sky called off him, but it was too late. Wild vaulted over his railing and ran out of the building. 

Sky looked out the window in time to see Wild talking to the kids. They started a game of tag, slipping and sliding through the mud. The kids shrieked as Wild splashed them and would hide in trees. Their parents would not be happy. 

Sky felt himself smile. This kids and Wild held no fear, maybe the rain wasn’t so bad after all. 

He couldn’t wait to one day be out there himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This also wasn’t edited, I just wanted it uploaded
> 
> Also, I have checked, there is no rain at any point of Skyward Sword, so Sky would’ve never seen it before.


	29. Jupiter

“Hey, Wind?” Hyrule one day called to the sailor, “how do you control the wind?”

He smiled, “with my Wind Waker! It was given to me by the King and blessed by the gods of wind of my time.”

“But how can you use it?” Hyrule was curious. Magic was a rare ability that very few could master. Even having a conduit wasn’t enough for some people. 

“Uhhh,” Wind glanced left and right, “I was blessed, too?”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t claim the Hero’s Spirit until after getting the Triforce of Courage?” Warriors joined the conversation, “you wouldn’t have any divine blessings before then.”

“Uhhhhh,” Wind’s eyes bulged, “I was already blessed before I started my journey!”

“How?”

“Blessed with awesomeness!” Wind proclaimed proudly.

Warriors snorted, ignoring Wind’s cries of “hey!” and ruffled his hair. 

“But seriously,” he said, “how? I’ve seen only one other wield the Wind Waker, and that was her Highness Princess Zelda. She has the blood of a goddess, what’s your excuse?”

“UhhhhhHHHHH!” Wind’s mumbles turned into screams and he stood their motionless for a minute.

Warriors and Hyrule looked at each other, not understanding what was going on. Hyrule poked Wind in the shoulder, yet he still screamed like a deer on the wrong end of a bow and arrow. 

“We broke him!” Hyrule realized. 

“Wind, You okay?” Warriors almost wanted to laugh. 

Finally, Wind stopped screaming. Sadly, it was so that he could take a breath and continue. 

“No, you don’t, Sailor!” Warriors clamped his hand over Wind’s mouth. 

“Wri, u stp ti nw!” Wind tried to pull his arm away. 

“I’ll stop if you promise to stop screaming.”

Pouting, Wind nodded and took a deep breath of fresh hair once freed. He glared at the two. 

“Why does it matter?” He asked, “Hyrule, you literally have a weapon call the Magic Sword. Why is it so weird that I can use the Wind Waker?”

“I have a reason,” Hyrule explained away. 

“What is it?”

“You go first.”

Wind grumbled some swears that were connected to some other mentions of his father. Warriors raised an eyebrow and asked him to repeat what he said. 

“My dad’s,” Wind clenched his fists around his tunic’s flaps, “my dad is a god...”

Crickets. 

“Oh,” Warriors was not expecting that. 

“That would explain it,” Hyrule nodded awkwardly, “...who is he?”

“Oshus,” he admitted sadly, “he’s not that well known. He’s the god of the ocean and dreams.”

“Why so down?” Warriors asked, “have you never met your dad?”

“No, no!” Wind smiled for a split second, “he’s really nice, but I only got to meet him a couple of times when he needed my help. He didn’t even tell me who he was until we were saying goodbye. It’s not that, though. I’m worried...”

“About what?” Hyrule urged, “will he be mad that we found out?”

Wind covered his face with his hands, “please don’t tell anyone else. I know how they’ll react. They won’t like it, won’t like me anymore.”

“Nonsense,” Warriors hugged the sailor, “all of us don’t care about parentage. Hell, half of us don’t have any parentage to speak of.”

“You don’t understand,” Wind sniffled, “Legend and Time, I know how much they- I already know Legend hates my dad- Time, he, he wouldn’t like that I became a Hero because of my dad. They would hate me- and- and-“

Wind burst into tears and hid in Warriors’ scarf. Any attempt to calm him down resulted in him shaking furiously and mumbling “no” over and over. 

“And Sky,” he started to list everyone, “he cares so much about the gods, he would think I was too bad of a person to be one of their son. Four would blame me for all of our problems, since I can’t fix them! Wild would hate me for having even more family alive than him and Twilight would agree. And- and you guys-“

He fell on the ground sobbing, refusing to speak anymore.

Hyrule stood there while Warriors crouched down, unsure of what to do. He thought the problem over in his head. Wind thought him being a demigod would affect how they saw him, but in reality it really wouldn’t. How could he prove that, though?

He could...no. That wasn’t the same thing. Or was it? It was similar, that was sure. It could also backfire...

“Wind, do you want to know why I can use magic?” He made up his mind, “you see, I’m not...exactly...mortal either.”

“What?” Warriors paused his comforting to look up at him in confusion, “since when?”

Hyrule hushed him before continuing, “my dad, I never met him, but I know that he was a traveler like me. He was injured one day and ran into a cave where he met mom. She healed him and they eventually had me. My mom is a Great Fairy.”

Wind looked up, tears stopping for a moment, “really?”

“Really?” Warriors prayed to Oshus that Hyrule’s Great Fairies were not like his or Wild’s.

“Yes, really!” Hyrule sat on the ground, “she taught me magic at a young age before sending me off. She used to be a guardian fairy, so I am one, too, technically. I was meant to be on my own or find someone to protect.”

He laughed, “I don’t think she envisioned me protecting the whole country.”

“Do you see her anymore?” Wind whimpered. 

Hyrule shrugged, “sometimes. I’ve started hanging out in the castle more and I don’t have any reason to be in the mountains, so it’s been a while. I know she’s there, though, and she knows I’m safe.” 

Wind looked back down. He seemed a little bit better, but not all the way. 

“Hey, listen,” Hyrule placed his hand on his shoulder, “if anyone else hates you for your dad, then I will be right there protecting you.”

“Promise?” Wind asked meekly. 

“Promise.”

Wind slowly stood up and so did Hyrule and Warriors. He barreled Hyrule with a hug. 

“Thank you,” he whispered. 

“Do you still want to keep it a secret,” Warriors started, “or do you want the others to know?”

“They- I’ll tell them,” Wind decided, “it’s going to come out sooner or later if I don’t.”

“We’ll be with you,” Warriors offered his hand, which Wind took. 

“So,” Hyrule made conversation as they went to find the others, “can you do anything else with your demigod-hood?” 

Wind thought, “I think, but I haven’t tried that much. I lucid dream all the time and I’m great at sailing, I know that. I might be able to shape-shift, though I don’t think I should try.”

“Why?”

“My dad turns into a whale,” he answered bluntly with a laugh, “imagine me turning into a whale in the middle of the forest. What about you?”

Hyrule rubbed the back of his neck, “I can do a lot more than I’ve shown off. To be honest, this isn’t my real form.”

“What?” Warriors looked him up and down, “what do you mean?”

“Fairies all look basically the same,” Hyrule explained, “the reason Great Fairies resemble people more is because they have more magic to change their appearance, but they are still tiny fairies in actuality. So, since I am half Great Fairy... please tell me I don’t have to spell it out!”

Wind grinned, “can we see your true form? Please!”

Hyrule sighed, “later. Switching back and forth takes a lot out of me.”

“Aw...”

Once they made it to where everyone else was, Hyrule cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. 

“What?” Legend woke up from his nap. A grumpy start that did not bode well for Wind. 

“Me and Wind have something to say,” he looked to the sailor, “do you want me to go first?”

Wind nodded, “please.”

Hyrule swallowed harshly and avoided looking at Time, who was sharpening his sword. His mother told him about her old friend, the Hero of Time. 

“I haven’t been honest about my race,” he started, “I am only half Hylian. My mother is the Great Fairy Navi.”

An immediate chorus of “what,” “who,” and “how” rang out. Legend narrowed his eyes and looked slightly betrayed that he didn’t know this about his best friend. Time walked up to Hyrule with a strong stride. 

“S-sorry for not saying anything before,” he stuttered out, raising his arms in defense. He could sense Wind was ready to run, with only Warriors stopping him for doing so.

“Navi, you say?” Since when was his voice this deep? Since when was he so tall?

“Y-yes,” Hyrule tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace, “mum told me some about the Hero of Time. She said she regretted leaving you.”

Time’s body relaxed and he smiled bittersweetly, “in your time, it was more that I left her. Please let her know that I still wish the best for her.”

He sighed, “of course. Mum misses you everyday. She won’t admit it, but I think I’m named after you.”

Time nodded his head and went back to sharpening his sword. Wind spoke softly so that only the two closest to him could hear. 

“That worked?” He asked, “I thought Time was going to murder you!”

“I agree,” Warriors added, “but this just proves that you have nothing to fear, Wind.”

“Alright,” Wind stepped forward and addressed everyone, who were still chatting about Hyrule’s heritage, “I also have something to say. I’m only half Hylian, too. My other half, being my dad, is- he- my dad-“

He started to repeat words and fidget. Everyone looked at him, wondering what was going on.

“Wind, it’ll all be okay,” Hyrule assured him. 

He nodded, “I know. Sorry, guys, my dad is- he’s a god...his name is Oshus.”

There was a loud clang. Legend had dropped his bag onto his sword and froze. The entire group was silent. As much as Hyrule wished it was in that circumstance, a fairy was not the equivalent to a god and nothing could have prepared them for this news. 

“Oshus?” Legend put space between each word, “the Wind Fish?”

“...yes,” Wind looked down, “I know you met him. I’m sorry.”

“Met him?!” Legend shouted before calming down slightly, “met is a weak word for our interactions.”

Wind’s eyes started to water, “do you hate me now?”

“What?” Legend snapped out of his angry thoughts, “no, why would I hate you?”

“Because- because my dad,” Wind choked, “he told me what he made you do and-“

“Stop right there,” Legend raised a finger, “I hate your dad more than I hate Ganon, but, based on my own mother, I have to believe that our parents don’t equal their children. I would never hate you because of Oshus, Wind.”

“R-really,” Wind perked up, “you mean it? What about all of you? I kept this hidden.”

Four waved away the thought, “we all have our secrets. This is just a fun fact that we never knew about you.”

“Thank you!” Wind was back to happy self. 

“Can we roll back the conversation real quick,” Wild raised his hand, “Legend, who’s your mother?”

“None of your business,” Legend snapped, “who’s yours?”

Wild lowered his hand, “I don’t know.”

“Oh,” Legend forgot who he was talking to, “sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Wild grinned, “I’ll forgive you if you answer my question.”

“This is extortion!”

“This is for making fun of an amnesiac!”

Legend huffed, “fine, my mother’s...”

Everyone leaned in. He groaned and fought with himself internally, like he didn’t want it to be true. Hesitantly, he finally got it out. 

“Hylia,” he sneered, “my mother is Hylia.”

“Wait,” Wind’s eyes widened, “you’re also a demigod? I’m not alone!” 

Wind ran over and hugged him. Legend tried to push him away, but he was stopped by all of the questions and looks from the others. 

“You,” Twilight started, “the most advent hater of Hylia, you are her son?”

“You would understand if you met her,” Legend finally managed to get Wind off of him. “And before any of you ask, no I don’t have any godly powers. I’m just really good at magic and have to do everything for the other gods now.”

“Great,” Wild tossed his arms in the air, “anyone else got weird parents they what to share?”

Twilight coughed awkwardly. 

Wild glared, “no.”

“My father isn’t a full god-“

“Twi, I swear. You say my world is crazy?”

Twilight smacked his ward and finished his sentence, “my father is Ordona, the light spirit that resides in my province.”

“How come no one mentioned any of this beforehand?” Wild complained, “I think god powers would come in handy!”

“I was scared you would hate me,” Wind admitted. 

Hyrule agreed, “I didn’t know how Time would react.”

“You know my feelings on Hylia,” Legend crossed his arms. 

“I have a lot of secrets,” Twilight smirked, “how does it feel to be on the receiving end of this, Cub?”

“I hate you all,” Wild shouted, “raise your hands if you have godly parentage!”

Wind grabbed Twilight’s pelt and shrieked into it when everyone raised their hands. Along with the already discovered demi-Hylians of Wind, Hyrule, Legend, and Twilight, Time, Warriors, Sky, and Four joined in. 

“How!?” He shook his fist to the sky, “are the gods allowed to do this?”

Sky tilted his head, “I assume? Who’s to stop them?”

“Then why,” he looked like he was about to go on a rant, “did no god answer my Zelda when she was calling on them. Meanwhile they seem to have a lot of time on their hands to make you guys!”

“Cub,” Twilight laughed, “calm down.”

“Never!” Contrary to what he shouted, Wild sat down on the ground and pouted. 

“Alright,” Hyrule smiled, “do you guys want to join the sharing circle?”

Four stepped forward, “it’s a long story.”

-

“Oh my Triforce,” Farore cradled Green and refused to let him go, “how did you get cuter, Link?”

“Mom!” Green tried to push away, “this is serious!”

“Farore,” Nayru snapped, “the Four Sword as been pulled out of it’s pedestal, this is no time to mess around.”

“Fine,” she let go of her son who bolted to his...brothers?

What used to be one boy named Link was now four identical boys, sans the same color. They already agreed that they would be called Green, Red, Blue, and Vio to avoid confusion. After a shadow taunted them, they decided it was best to run home for help. 

What better help was there than literal gods after all. Literal gods who were also their parents. 

“This is odd,” Nayru looked at them, “the Four Sword is meant to split you evenly, not with different personalities.”

“Is it broken?” Din took Red’s sword and inspected it. 

“It’s not, Mother,” Vio explained, “I’ve already checked.”

“Hmph,” she handed back the sword, “and Vaati was released? It seems you are back on the job.”

“Do we have to?” Red frowned, “we only pulled the sword because the shadow forced us to.”

“Sorry, sweetie,” Din kissed his forehead, “but I know you can do it.”

“Thanks, mummy,” Red beamed.

“They each call us different things,” Farore squealed, “it’s just like like when Link was a kid!”

She ran over to Green and started hugging him once more. 

“Mom! There are four of me now, hug someone else.”

“Farore!” Nayru sighed, “again, this is not the time.”

“Same old, same old,” Blue hefted his sword, “should be simple a job. Vaati was a pushover last time.”

Nayru raised an eyebrow, “I hope you are not going into battle with that mindset. Remember the pirates that caused you to break your arm?”

“That technically wasn’t me,” Blue pointed out, “that was all four of us.”

“But it was your recklessness,” she rebuked, “promise you will think out a strategy before going into battle. Blue?”

“Yes, momma,” he grumbled. 

“Good.”

“Let’s get going,” Green waves his brothers out the door, avoiding one last hug from Farore. 

“Red, dear,” Din called after him, “even if you are Link’s emotions, you can still be tough in battle.”

“I know, mummy,” Red raised a thumbs-up, “I’ll do my best.”

With that, the Golden Goddesses gave them parting gifts to help them on their quests. They promised that they would do everything in their power to help them track down Vaati and the Maidens that were kidnapped. 

“Be good, Vio,” Nayru was the one to say goodbye to him as they left the house, “I sense a rocky path up ahead and you will need to choose wisely which direction you will go.”

Vio nodded nervously, “of course, Mother.”

-

“I have three other brothers at home,” Four lied, pushing the flashback to the back of his mind, “we’re quadruplets and we were all raised by the goddesses Farore, Din, and Nayru. We knew one of them was our actual mother, but they never told us which one. So, they were all our mothers.”

“You were raised by the Golden Goddesses?” Sky fell out of his chair, “all three of them!?”

“Uh, yeah,” Four was happy that no one caught his lie. 

“You’re my uncle!” Legend shrieked, “what the f*ck?”

“You just lived with three gods in your house at all times?” Wild’s mind broke for a second time in his life, “why?”

Four shrugged, “I don’t know. All I know is that they picked favorites and...well, three gods to four brothers doesn’t add up. We had a falling out recently, so I don’t like to talk about it much.”

“We understand,” Sky nodded. 

“I don’t,” Wild whispered, but he wasn’t going to push it.

“I guess I’m next,” Sky smiled, “I never met my parents, but I was told by Zelda that my father was a great immortal hero that fought along side her in the war.”

“And who would that be?” Time’s right eye started to hurt. 

“She said I was named after him, so his name was Link, too,” Sky explained, “she called him the Fierce Deity. He was apparently the Demon Lord Ghirahim’s foil and acted as her general.”

He continued to list off facts that he had heard about his father, passingly mentioning that no one had seen him since Sky’s mother passed away. Time’s red flag alarms were ringing and he touched the right side if his face. 

“Time?” Sky asked, “are you alright?”

“Do you know what he looked like?” Time asked. 

Sky shook his head, “no, but I’ve seen his sword in some paintings. He had two, one was an early version of Fi and the other was a strange sword made of two twisting blades.”

“Time?” Twilight looked concerned. 

“I think I know what happened to your father, Sky.”

Sky stood up, “you do? How?!”

“There’s a legend from a land far from mine,” he began, “of a warrior who was left behind after a war. While the people were safe, there were still demons to fight. The warrior fought for years upon years, but there was something holding him back.”

His hand twitched and he could hearing cackling in his ears, “a creature that was created out of nothing but chaos and destruction was the source of the evil now that the war was over. The warrior went to face it, to maybe one day let the world know peace.

“The warrior and the creature fought for three days nonstop. Each time he thought he had won, the creature would one upped him. 

“While fighting, the battle caused such destruction that it split the land into another country. The warrior realized he could use this to his advantage and created a bubble around the country, so that, if he lost, he could contain the fallout.

“On the dawn of the final day, the creature had a plan. It could not beat the warrior, so it sealed him away in a mask, and the warrior did so in return.”

Time finished, “that’s the legend of the Fierce Deity.“

“Where did you hear that?” Sky frowned, “there’s no other country except Hyrule.”

Time closed his eyes, “the land of Termina is a strange place. Would you like to see the mask?”

“You’re willing to show it to him?” Warriors spoke up in the first time in a while, “you never let me touch it when you were a kid.”

“This is his father,” Time glared, “Sky?”

He nodded numbly, “please.”

Delicately, Time reached into his bag and pulled out the Fierce Deity mask. He handed it over to Sky, who looked at it with a mix of awe and loneliness. 

“This was him?” He looked at the markings on the mask, “why do you have the same markings?”

“They’re punishment,” Time hung his head in shame, “for using the mask. At first, your father aided me in killing my enemy, which was the creature he sealed away, but he soon saw me as a threat. These marks are a warning that if I were to use the mask again, I would be killed.”

“Why?” Sky hugged the mask. 

“Because, my father was the creature that your father fought,” Time said, “my father was the demon named Majora.”

A day of bombshells it was. At first, as few of them thought he was joking, but Time showed no humor when he shared that information. Time was ashamed of his father, and he apparently was the one to finally kill him. 

“Majora,” Wild thought aloud, “as in Majora’s Mask? You told me that it was just a story! That was your father?”

“I believe we have all told stories and lies,” Time gestured to everyone, “and he was nothing but what created me and I am nothing but what destroyed him. My real father is someone much closer to me than the demon ever would be.”

Sky tried to hand him back the mask, “is there anything we can do to free him?”

He shook his head, “I am not sure, and it’s too dangerous for me to ask. Keep it, but I would not advise ever wearing it.”

Sky nodded, “thank you. When I return to Skyloft, I will ask Zelda. Maybe she has a way...”

“So,” Twilight was hesitant to ask, “do you have any powers from your f- Majora?”

“I’ve worked hard to hide anything of my relation, and, if we are lucky, you will never see what I’ve inherited.”

Once everyone quieted down, they all look to Warriors. 

“What?” He asked, noticing the looks. 

“You raised your hand,” Wild pointed out, “and I am about to go insane, so please just say who your parent is.”

“You don’t need to know,” Warriors smiled, “minor god, nothing of importance.”

“Calling bull right now!” Legend snarked, “if you were the son of the god of spears and nothing else you’d be bragging. I’m betting it’s something you’re embarrassed by.”

“Legend,” Warriors warned him not to push. 

“The old man’s already admitted to quite literally being a demon’s spawn,” he continued, “highly doubt you could top that, so just say it.”

“Legend, I am serious,” Warriors’ happy expression dropped, “my family is my business.”

“Is it another demon? An evil god?” Legend walked up to him, “we’ve all spilt our secrets. C’mon!”

“You didn’t want to share about Hylia,” Warriors shoved him, “and I don’t want to share about my father.”

“So, it’s your father?” Legend grinned at getting some information, “that narrows it down a bit.”

“Congrats,” he remarked, “it was a fifty-fifty split on which one of my parents were a god-“

He stopped himself from speaking too late. He had given away that his dad was a god, and one that he didn’t like to talk about. 

“So,” Legend started counting on his fingers, “there’s quite a few ocean and wind gods, all of which are male. Are you the son of one of Wind’s wind gods?”

“No.”

“Legend, leave him alone,” Time spoke up, but it did nothing to stop him. 

“Nayru is male in my time, but I don’t think it’d be him.”

“Nayru’s a male in your timeline?”

“Don’t question it. Are you somehow related to one of us?”

“Who knows, honestly, but I don’t think that would make us that godly.”

“What about a dragon, there’s a couple of those flying around. Wild, do they count as gods?”

Wild looked at his slate and shook his head, “it just says they’re guardians.”

“My dragons are deities,” Sky imputed. 

“Me, too!” Wind agreed, “Warriors, please, we won’t judge you. Didn’t you say that about me when I was worried?”

“I do know a giant fish god that the Zora worshipped,” Legend remembered, “he ate me and I will slap you if that’s your father.”

“I thought you didn’t judge based off family?” Warriors backed away. 

“I don’t, but he really didn’t need to eat me. That’s all the male gods I know. Suggestions from the peanut gallery?”

“Warriors,” Wind tugged at his scarf, “it’s okay.”

Warriors sighed and placed his hand of Wind’s head, “fine, but what I say is never mentioned or brought up at any point again. And it is never, ever told to anyone else. Got it?”

Everyone nodded with a few murmurs mixed in. 

“You know my story,” he began, “the Guardian of Time was corrupted and her malice was directed towards me, but that was all planned by Ganondorf. He drew her attention to me because of who my father was, knowing that I would have the power to free him once more. 

“It’s complicated, but my father was not from my current time period. I was brought to my time by one of the portals when I was a child by a future version of Cia. I didn’t know of my origins until a met a past version of her years later.

“My father...my father was Demise.”

Silence.

Everyone immediately looked to Sky, as he was the only one to ever fight the god, though he told them all the story of the curse. This was definitely not his day. First he learnt that his father was trapped in a mask and would kill a friend of his for being the son of his destroyer, and now this. 

“Demise had a child?” He started to breathe heavily, “wh-ho-why?!”

“I don’t know!” Warriors snapped before becoming far less animated, “I clearly never met him, only his hatred form of Ganondorf. I was only told by Cia after some of my comrades went to the Era of the Skies.”

“I’m s-“ Sky stopped himself, “I am going to be honest, I am not sorry I killed Demise.”

“You don’t have to be,” Warriors clenched his sword, “if I could, I would be right there along side you. The worst part is, I use his powers every day. All the monsters I kill in one blow are from his destructive powers. My strength with weapons are from him being the one to create them. My courage is nothing when compared to my recklessness driven by power.”

He sat down, tossing his sword away, “that’s why I’ve told no one. I would be seen as a double agent immediately, all achievements I’ve worked for would be corrupted. My dad isn’t some ocean god, he’s the cause of all of our problems.

“I see it in your eyes,” he chuckled, “you’re afraid of me now. Might as well get this over with, I’ll leave right now and go back to my time. After all, who would want Demise’s son when you are fighting his army!”

“Warriors...” Sky reached out, “it doesn’t matter who your father was. He’s gone and will never come back.”

“What if I told he could,” Warriors put on a fake smile, “how does Ganon keep coming back again and again? It’s his soul still holding on. Well, what do you think is inside of me?”

“An ego?” Legend suggested before Hyrule slapped him. 

“Not the time,” he whispered in one of his rare cases of anger. 

“A part of Demise is inside of me,” Warriors ignored them, “with that he could be brought back. Why else would gods have children? We’re nothing but contingency plans for when things go wrong for them.”

“That’s not true for all of us,” Four got defensive, “my moms love u- me. And we don’t have the souls of our parents inside of us, that’s not how this works.”

“There’s a myth,” he pointed out, “that says gods live as long as someone knows of them. In my time, I am the last living being that knows of Demise, so he still exists in me.”

“That’s stupid,” Legend drawled, “Time killed his father, do you see him still hopping around.”

Wild didn’t want to mention the fact that the mask still held a little power. Time’s eye started to hurt again. 

“It’d be better if you just...” his eyes sparked up, he walked over to Sky and handed him his sword after picking it up the ground. 

“Warriors?” Sky held the sword awkwardly, “what are you doing?”

Warriors said nothing until he finished preparing whatever he was doing. He sat down the Fierce Deity mask on the ground and then made sure Sky was holding the blade tight. He then moved the tip of the blade to rest on his chest. He could feel a stab whenever he breathed, so he knew it was close enough. . 

“Warriors?” Sky tried to remove the sword, but Warriors held firm with his hand. 

“Do it,” he growled through gritted teeth, “kill me.”

Everyone jumped to their feet at his words and were at attention. Wind’s face looked like he was being tortured. 

“What, no!” Sky refused. 

“War,” Wind whined, “why are you saying this?”

“If you kill me,” Warriors said way too calmly for a man in his situation, “then the last link to Demise is destroyed.”

“There’s still Ganon,” Hyrule shouted, “this would do nothing!”

“Ganondorf is nothing compared to a god, no matter how much he wishes he was,” he inched the blade somehow even closer, “kill me. You’ve killed my father twice, so you can kill me.”

“You’re not your father!” Sky tried to pull the blade away, but all he managed to do was dig it into Warrior’s gloves. If he moved anymore, blood would be spilt. 

“But I could become him!” Warriors shouted back, “you haven’t seen it, but I have! Dark magic can change anyone to pure evil. Cia used to be a good person, she was purer than all of us, and now? Now she is dead! Kill me!”

“No!”

Sky pleaded for anyone to help, anyone at all. None of the Links moved, they were too scared to cause even more damage. 

“Warriors, we can talk this out,” he tried to smile, “there are so many other options.”

“That just delay the inevitable,” Warriors showed no emotion on his face, “I live in a constant state of time travel. Demise’s return will always be a day away for me, and so is my death. Please.”

His eyes were the only thing that gave away his fear. They watered and looked around at everything. He was both afraid to do this and of what would happen if he didn’t. He looked truly pitiful in that moment. 

Then, a miracle! Lightning struck. Literally. Out of nowhere in the clear blue sky, a bolt of lightning hit Warriors in the back, causing him to fall. Sky hissed as the lightning traveled down the sword and burnt his hands. 

“What was that?” Sky winced and he saw Time standing up, one hand raised to sky.

“Time?” Twilight gasped. 

“Why didn’t I think of that?!” Wild complained, he had access to lightning, too, though for different reasons. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Time ran towards the collapsed form of Warriors, “it was that or bullets.”

He flipped Warriors over, seeing his breath, while uneasy, was not that bad. His tunic sizzled at where the blade was touching him at the moment on impact. 

Warriors coughed, eyes barely opened, “T-time?”

“I can do a lot worse and lot more painful,” Time glared at him, “I know exactly how far it takes to kill a man with these powers and I will make sure I go right up to that limit to stop you.”

“Why?” Warriors slurred his words, “Demise-“

“Demise nothing!” Sky crouched down, “as the only one to meet him, I can safely say you are not him. And I have proof...”

“If this is some mushy talk about friendship I will stab me myself.”

Sky disappeared from his line of sight before returning. Warriors felt something heavy being placed on his chest. 

“What?” He tried to move his head to see what it was, but he couldn’t. 

“I just placed the Master Sword on you,” Sky smiled, “if you had any darkness or weakness in you, you wouldn’t be able to touch it. Fi would burn you worse than Wild’s scars right now.”

“Oh,” he said simply, “the Master Sword...”

“Not only that,” Twilight walked over, “the Master Sword purifies darkness. So any darkness surrounding you would be destroyed. There’s no way you could be anything but 100 percent light holding this blade.”

“I’m not- I’m not him...” Warriors smiled weakly before closing his eyes, “I’m going to pass out now.”

And thus he did. Sky sighed in relief and looked to Time. 

“Time,” he begged, “go easier next time.”

“There won’t be a next time,” Time picked up Warriors body and carried it to a more comfy place to rest.

“Soo,” Wild leaned over to Twilight, “am I actually the only mortal here?”

Twilight stared at him with disbelief, “is that the only thing that you took away from this?”

“What,” Wild squinted, “am I supposed to ignore that I am surrounded by literal deities while my Hyrule has two, max?”

“Another time, Cub.”

“I’m serious!”

-

Weeks later…

Warriors was in far better shape and actually embraced that what he did with his powers would anger his father. He showed off more of what he could do, killings hundreds of monsters with a snap of his finger, and did it with glee knowing it was done for good. 

Everyone else started to reveal what they could really do and battles were ten times easier. 

Wind learned how to shape-shift into a seagull and was their scout. Hyrule used his fairy form to sneak around with Wind and help with healing. Legend was no different, but he was most likely still hiding things. 

Twilight made the announcement that he was Wolfie and that he was able to do that thanks to his blood flowing with light magic that absorbed Twili magic. He was also able to purify any corrupted monsters they came across. Time never used his powers, but he fought more fiercely. 

Four showed off his extra-sensitive eyesight and hearing to show them where magic spots were. He found fairies easily and extra light magic that Twilight could use to restock his energy. Sky could be seen looking at his father’s mask, though he too fought fiercely.

And that left Wild, a mortal among demigods. Or so they thought. 

A few weeks after arriving in Wild’s Hyrule, he walked into their inn room and made an announcement. 

“I asked Zelda,” his face went red with embarrassment, “and it turns out that I am not mortal. She didn’t tell me because she didn’t think I could forget that.”

Twilight smirked, “knew it. Who’s your parent?”

He muffled his words in his hood. 

“What was that?”

“Malanya and Satori,” he hid his face. 

“Who are they, Cub?” Twilight was getting annoyed. 

“The god of horses and the god of the wild,” he answered before running away. 

The room exploded. 

“WAIT!” Legend ran after him, “YOU’RE AN ACTUAL GOD?!”

“What the actual hell,” Warriors commented, “who gave that gremlin that much power?”

“Does he even know how to use them?” Time asked. 

“No, no he does not,” Twilight knew that much from watching him.

Faintly, they heard Wild screaming, “how was I supposed to know falling off a mountain and not dying was special!”

Twilight decided to call it for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is currently 2:41 in the morning, I started this fic at 2 PM in lw and finished at 8:30 PM. I editted it a couple hours after. 
> 
> This is my longest lw, being six and half hours long and over 6,000 words. Thanks to all who stayed with me through it all.


	30. Traitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I can’t believe it’s not angst.

“Where am I?” Vio wobbled on the sandy terrain. It was hot, like Death Mountain, making it feel a little like home. One moment he was looking for the source of influx of monsters with his brothers, then he was in the middle of a desert. 

The wind started to pick up. Blinking the sand out of his eyes, Vio put his hood up and started walking to a crevasse in the mountain. He needed to find protection. 

No matter how far he traveled, there was still sand. He fell a couple of times, but the the ground was becoming more and more solid, so he moved forward. He took note of the strange frog statues that littered the area. 

“Offerings?” He glanced at a bowl at the feet of a frog, it was filled with bananas, “some religion?”

Finally, he made it to solid ground. After crawling over a small rock, he could breathe clean air. He sighed. 

Then he was attacked.

Three archers popped out from behind the frogs and fired. Vio dodged, missing five out of six arrows? He wanted to question how so many arrows were possible, but the one in his shoulder demanded attention. 

The archers vanished, allowing Vio to take quick precautions. He couldn’t remove the arrow, that would cause too much damage, so the only thing to do was kill the enemies to assess the injury more later. Pulling out his own bow, he waiting for them to reappear. 

One...two...GOTCH YA! 

Vio hit one in the abdomen. They vanished and never returned to the fighting. It wasn’t enough to kill them, so they must have fled. 

“JERRY!” Their friend shouted before getting angry, “you’ll pay for his medical bills with your life!”

The archer swapped their weapon for a sharp and bloodied blade. With a war cry, they ran right at Vio giving him no time to defend himself. He swiped Vio’s legs from under him, causing a nasty gash across both legs. 

“Ugh!” Vio collapsed, though refused to die. Grabbing his sword, he weakly pointed it at the last archer. He was shot a final time in his other shoulder, removing any last strength he had.

“Still alive, eh?” The blade wielder kicked his body. It took everything in him to not pathetically whimper. “Surprised.”

“What’s that?” The archer walked over and pointed to the back of his left hand. “Looks like we got a Hero here! He finally woke up.”

Vio swore, the mark of the triforce that he got for being a Hero along with his brothers glowed whenever he was injured. It was a failsafe, a way to keep him alive in times of need, but now it seems it might be his death. 

“Let’s bring him to Master Kohga, he’ll be so pleased with us! Let’s drag him, the cursed goddess wouldn’t let her Hero die from being dragged across the floor.”

Vio would beg to differ as he passed out from the pain of the two arrow wounds.

A little while later, Vio awoke to darkness. He felt tired and thirsty from the dry air. He also smelled bananas, perhaps it was the sack that was covering his head. The ropes that tied him down were also unpleasant. 

“Aw, Hero,” he heard a voice mumbled, “no, no, that’s not it. Hero, surprise to see me? Is that too melodramatic?”

“Nah, boss!” Another voice assured him, “it’s just perfect.”

“What about-“

“If you are seriously practicing your monologue in front of your kidnapped person,” Vio spoke up, “then you might want to make sure they’re passed out.”

“I told you the bag had to be taken off,” a third voice snarled. 

“I wanted to be dramatic!” The first voice claimed. With some grumbling, the sack was pull off of Vio’s head and his eyesight adjusted to the low light of flickering torches.

Vio took note of his kidnappers. There were a couple, maybe five or six, in the room and they looked alike. They had masks and wore red. The one who stood in front of him had some weird hat and, no other to put it, was fat. 

“Well, Hero,” the weird hat guy gloated, “we have finally captured you! Now, I want you to say the name of your capture, to admit your defeat.”

Vio narrowed his eyes, “I have no idea who you are. Who any of you are, really.”

“W-what!” He sputtered, “you do not know I: the great and terrible Master Kohga!? Or the infamous Yiga clan, your fated rivals.”

“My fated rival is a glorified bat,” Vio told him, “I think you have the wrong guy.”

“Just like the Hero to try and trick us,” Kohga pointed accusingly, “are you not Link, the so called Champion of Hyrule? You bare the mark of the Hylians’ precious triforce, so you must be him.”

“My name is Vio,” he lied, or half lied since that was technically the truth, “and I am no champion.”

“Vio?” Kohga backed up, “what were you doing near our hideout? Only the Hero would be here to defeat his enemies!”

“I hope you know there’s a desert on your front porch,” he painfully nodded his head to the side, “I was looking for shelter.”

“I told you he wasn’t the Hero!”

“Can it, Nancy,” Kohga huffed, “then who are you?”

“You first. You shot a stranger, so it’s only fair. Who are the Yiga?”

“Fine.” Really? This guy must like monologuing to be explaining it to him, no questions asked. “The Yiga are an honorable clan…”

“The best!” A Yiga member agreed, “better than the mutts who call themselves Sheikah.”

“…we are pursuing an honorable goal, one that will surely reward all who follow it…”

“ALL HAIL!” That was Nancy, if Vio was following correctly. 

“…we will resurrect Lord Ganon!” Kohga finished, smiling underneath his mask, “frightened, or does it excite you as much as us? The return of the Demon King!”

Oh, sh*t, Vio’s eyes widened, not again.

“He can’t even speak,” a Yiga cackled. 

Couldn’t speak? He wanted to cut out his tongue before he cursed the gods for dragging him into another cult ready to give the rise to Ganon. He noticed that Kohga was staring at him, waiting for him to say something. 

“You call him both a King and a Lord, which is it?” That was the only thing that came to mind. It was stupid, but better than giving way to his rare moments of Blue-like anger. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Kohga waved away, “why do the Hylians called the Hero both the Hero and the Champion? Wouldn’t you know, are you not Hylian, too? Who are you?”

“Like I said,” he repeated, “my name is Vio. I’m…not from around here.”

“And why is that mark on your hand?”

Vio wanted to move his hand out of view, but his hands were tied in front of him. How could he explain this away? They were looking for a Hero, but clearly a different one than him. Was he in a different time? It was possible, but that didn’t tell him anything about how he got there or why he was in possession of a bunch of cultists. 

He ran through all the reasons why someone would be marked like him. Being blessed, a birthmark, a tattoo, magic, a weird tan, a brand, a copy of the image-

No, he told himself. He said he would never do that again. 

But he could be killed! He was sitting in some desert cave with people who were looking to murder the Hero and he already couldn’t walk. Not to mention, the arrows were still sticking out of both shoulders. 

The others wouldn’t know, they weren’t here. He would have to search for them after he got out of the situation. Blue would be furious, but it wasn’t like they were on the opposite end this time, just some unlucky sap. 

Plus, he could hinder these Yiga, if he pretended to join their side. No one would even know. He sadly had a lot of practice in the double agent business.

“You said you work for Lord Ganon?” Vio hesitantly spoke, “well, so do I.”

“What is your game?” Kohga pouted, “that is a lie if I have ever seen one.”

“It’s not a lie,” Vio bared his teeth in a smile, just like Shadow used to do, “ever hear of the echo that follows the Hero? Looks exactly like him, down to the scars and marks. Its duty is to kill the Hero and bring the end of Hyrule.”

“We have records of some instances of this occurring,” he rubbed his chin, “like the Hero of Time facing Dark Link.”

Who? Vio shook his head. 

“That hack?” He laughed, “please, there’s only one me, no others can do what I have and will do.”

“You’re talking big game,” Nancy inched forward, threatening him with her blade, “still haven’t said who you are. Or what you have done.”

“Ever hear of the Hero of the Four Sword?” He received a bunch of shaking heads. Good, they wouldn’t know he was lying. “Well, I convinced him to the side of Ganon, to the side of darkness. I’ve corrupted an agent of light, only the shadow of the Hero could do that. I said my name was Vio, but legends call me that Shadow.”

“Shadow, huh?” Kohga leaned close to him. Vio wanted to gag, why did his breath stink so bad it went through the mask? “Can you prove it?”

“Only if you untie me,” Vio lied, “until then, maybe you can answer my questions. You see, I was brought here, summoned by something, or someone, and I was wondering who did that. Did G-my Master summon me, or was it you?”

This was harder than he remembered. 

“The ritual,” a Yiga piped up, “did it actually work this time?”

“Ritual?” He hummed, “yes, that could be the case. Now, would you so kindly untie me? We are on the same side, and it is awfully rude of you to call just to torture me.”

No one moved, they still didn’t trust him. He feigned anger. 

“You dare, the audacity!” Vio snarled, “I am second in command to Lord Ganon himself, I could kill any of you in an instant. Untie me at once before I slay all of your pathetic Yiga clan members and find followers worthy of the Demon King!”

He had never been untied so fast. That worked? Ganon really did need to find better followers.

“Good.” He rubbed his wrists once freed, “now, someone get me a fairy or potion. These arrows won’t kill me, but they will certainly be a distraction if you want to kill the Hero.”

A Yiga member came running with a bottled fairy. Poor thing, it looked like it had been in there for a while. As a show of strength, even if it was stupid, Vio ripped out the two arrows harshly, making no noise as he was healed and could walk again. 

“Everyone leave,” Vio waved his hand, “if you want to win, like I have, you will do everything I say. And, if you don’t believe me still, tomorrow I will show you proof of my powers.”

The Yiga scuttled out, causing him to reminisce of the time when he and Shadow ruled over those monsters. He hated to say it, but he missed bossing around his enemies. It was better than them killing him. 

“Um, Lord Shadow?” Kohga didn’t leave. 

“Vio, please,” there was no way he could take being called Shadow, “works for anonymity. Master Kohga was it?”

“Yes,” he stood up straight, “I have been leading the Yiga going on four years now, and…”

“You’re worried I will take your leadership role?” He chuckled for effect, “don’t worry, this is your clan, pathetic as it is, but if Lord Ganon decrees that I help, then I must. You can also help with that, you need to explain to me what is going on in this time. It’s been a few thousand years since I’ve last seen Hyrule.”

He followed Kohga to another room, adopting the swagger he saw Shadow walk with, and watched as he pulled out a tapestry. He explained the history of Hyrule, but not going so far as to hit Vio’s time.

All the while, he thought about what he was going to do to prove his ‘powers’ for the coming day. He had made that up, hoping to add some credence to himself. He should’ve thought ahead, not act impulsively like Blue. Though, acting like Blue could be of use if he was to act brutish like Shadow was. 

Vio refocused as Kohga informed him on the Hero of this time. He was supposed to be sleeping in some shrine, ready to awake at any moment. 

-

The next day Vio walked into an arena, where some thirty odd Yiga were situated. He smirked, praying to Hylia that this worked. In his hands he held a piece of the Dark Mirror, one of the very last fragments and his only source of dark magic. He had hoped to somehow bring Shadow back with it, but he never found out how. 

He asked for someone to bring him a plant, and some round, green fruit was rolled over to him. Gaining confidence, he hid the shard in his sleeve and touched it to the fruit. Upon contact, it shriveled up into dust. Darkness did have its benefits, it seemed. Too bad he couldn’t do that more than a couple times without risking the shard. 

“That is what would happen to anyone who will oppose me!” Vio threatened, pocketing his item while no one was looking, “but it will be more painful. I will kill you with my own sword, for only the Hero is worthy to die by darkness.”

After that, the Yiga practically bowed down to him. 

-

“Wear this,” Kohga handed him an identical outfit to his, complete with the dumb hat. 

“Why?” He asked, he liked his outfit just fine. 

“You’re a part of the team now,” he replied, “gotta look the part.”

It was moments like these where Vio was happy he could speak his mind, “those outfits look idiotic. I’ll wear the mask, nothing more.”

He swiped the white and red mask that laid on top of the clothes. If he ever had to leave on one of Kohga’s ‘raids’ he would need to hide his face. 

“Master Kohga! Lord Shadow!” A Yiga member ran up to them. 

“Just Vio, enough with this lord nonsense.”

“The Hero was just spotted leaving the Plateau by a scout!” They screamed excitedly, “he’s awake.”

Oh, Vio did not expect the Hero to actually awake. From the stories he was told, the Hero had been asleep for 100 years, and that already sounded like a fairy tale. 

“Looks like my job as just begun,” he grinned to the delight of Kohga, “no one else is allowed to kill him, bring him here alive so that I may be the last thing he sees.”

-

Talk of the Hero followed him through the coming weeks. 

“Lord Shadow! The Hero was spotted at Kakariko!”

“Lo-Vio! The Hero just cleansed Vah Ruta, what do we do?”

“He’s heading North!”

“West!”

“He’s heading for the desert.”

A few times, so not to add suspicion, Vio left the hideout. He ventured into the great unknown that was this new Hyrule and pretended to search for the Hero. In reality, he killed monsters that were respawned by the blood moon or helped travelers in areas that other Yiga wouldn’t be watching. He only wore the Yiga mask when he went in an out of the hideout. 

On the way back one day, from one of his ‘scouting trips,’ he noticed that the normally empty cell had a Gerudo in it. He froze, careful not to make any noise as to draw her attention away from the back of her cell. What was she doing there?

He slipped away and stormed into Kohga’s room. This had better been a Gerudo trying to sneak in and not a raid that he wasn’t warned about. 

“Kohga?!” He roared, scaring out any Yiga that were talking to him, “who is the Gerudo? Why was I not informed of this?”

Kohga dropped a golden helmet that he was holding, frightened, “Lord Vio!”

“Explain,” he gritted his teeth. He learned quickly that the Yiga responded to strength over anything else, so being violent or angry worked fine to get information out of them. 

“Since the Hero has cleansed three of the Divine Beasts,” he picked up the helmet, “he will be coming for Vah Naboris, so I made a sure he couldn’t. In order to get close, one must use this, or risked getting struck by lightning. The Gerudo came to take it back, because it’s some treasure of theirs.”

Vio rubbed his forehead, Kohga actually did something smart for once. He thought he’d never see the day.

“This will just draw the Hero to us,” Vio pointed out, “giving away the hideout.”

“That’s why he will never leave,” Kohga smirked, “you said it yourself, the plan all along was to get you two in a room and then...”

He pretended to cut his throat with his finger. 

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

Vio sighed, “you did an excellent job, Kohga, Lord Ganon would be proud. Just don’t do anything without my approval again, ever.”

“Yes, of course!”

He walked away, “I will prepare for the Hero’s arrival. You order your troops.”

Later that night, while Kohga was speaking to the Yiga, Vio snuck near the cell, putting on his mask so that she would never be able to recognize him later. He knocked on her bars. 

“Uh!” The Gerudo jumped, but Vio quickly shushed her, “what do you want, Yiga?”

“I’m here to release you,” he whispered harshly, flinching at any noise the ruins made, “you need to get out of here.”

“This a trick!” She refused to quiet down, “I hear what those banana-loving freaks call you. Lord Shadow was it? You want to release me just to kill me when I think I’m free.”

“No!” Vio insisted, moving to open the gate, “you are not supposed to be here. I’m not with the Yiga, I’m…”

He thought for a second, what could he say? That he was a Hero from the past? A liar? A saboteur?

“A Sheikah spy,” he decided. He never met one before, but they were apparently the Yiga’s arch nemeses, “I’ve infiltrated the Yiga and I’m here to help the Hero.”

“You’re lying,” she sneered, “the Sheikah would rather die than pretend to be slaves to Ganon!”

“Shh!” Vio lost his chance when a torch started to glow from inside the hideout. He swore, taking one last look at the glaring Gerudo before running out of there. He couldn’t be found out now, not when it was most dangerous. It would be like the mirror all over again, maybe worse with other lives at stake.

He ran out of the hideout, he could make up some lie later that he needed a place to practice archery in peace or something, only stopping when he made it to the frogs. What was with the Yiga and the frogs? He never bothered to ask, same with the bananas. 

He sighed, if only the Gerudo believed him, she would be safe. He would try again later, maybe ‘accidentally’ leave her cell open when she was asleep. As for the Hero…

His thoughts trailed off as he saw something new in the distance. Blue ribbons of light in varying shades floated from the sky to somewhere hidden by a rock. After a minute or two, he made out a figure that was running straight towards the entrance. A figure that was cloaked in a lovely sky blue. 

Sh*t! The Hero was here already? How? He could teleport? Vio had no time to think, he couldn’t let himself be seen by the Hero, but he also couldn’t let himself be seen by the Yiga letting the Hero go. 

The Hero was upon him, it was too late. Without even changing his expression, the Hero sliced at him, ready to kill.

He dodged, managing not to get hit, and he did the only thing he could think of. He pulled out one of those smoke bombs the Yiga used to ‘teleport’ around and threw it on the ground. The Hero coughed on the smoke and Vio was already gone, hiding somewhere, when he could see again. 

Vio watched as the Hero decided to forget about him, and he charged into the fortress. Seconds later, the Gerudo he was trying to save ran out. He sighed, at least she would be safe from the carnage. 

He waited for the Yiga to sound the alarm that the Hero had infiltrated, that would be when he would enter once more. After that? He didn’t know. He had been caught so off guard by Kohga’s actions. 

A whistle was sounded, coming all the way from the arena. Vio rushed in and found a foot soldier Yiga looking disheveled near Kohga’s room. 

“Lord Shadow!” They shouted, “the Hero, he-“

“What, spit it out!” The soldier was stuttering. 

“He killed Master Kohga!” They screamed. 

That was fast, he thought to himself. Kohga talked big game about having a special move, which probably was terrible in reality. He didn’t feel much pity for the man’s death, he voluntarily signed up to follow Ganon, he knew what would come to him.

“We have him surrounded, but Master Kohga was the strongest of us,” the Yiga admitted, “what do we do, Master Shadow?”

“Master?” He hadn’t been called that before. 

The Yiga nodded, “you’re next in charge to lead us, Master Kohga told us so.”

“Perfect,” he snarled, “I will face the Hero myself then. I will avenge your leader, he was a loyal follower of Lord Ganon.”

Vio confidently walked to the area, ignoring all the new blood stains that littered the room and the doorway. He slowly opened the door, dramatic effect was always the way of the Yiga and he needed to play the part. 

What to do? He thought crazily in his head. This was just like Death Mountain, except instead of one person watching him, it was a whole clan who were out for blood. How could he make it look like the Hero was killed with all the onlookers. 

An idea came to him when he saw the Hero backed against the gigantic pit, fending off a bunch of Yiga. 

He grinned, “back off! He’s mine!”

The Yiga parted quickly and the Hero stared at the Yiga he had failed to kill. Raising his sword, a nearly broken scimitar, the Hero was ready for a fight.

“It so good to finally meet you Champion of Hyrule?” Vio started to walk forward, not even attempting to draw his sword, “is that the helmet that the Yiga stole? You came all the way here just to get it? Big mistake.”

He glanced around, looking at the shaking masses of the Yiga. They were really shaken by the loss of their leader. 

“You killed Master Kohga?” 

“He pushed him into the pit!” A Yiga yelled in rage, “used his own magic against him!”

“Yeah!” “Avenge him!” “Kill the Hero!” “Master Shadow!”

“Then it is only fair that the Hero dies the same way,” he loved the cheers that he was given. Now, there would be no question as to why he wouldn’t use dark magic. Don’t need much to shove someone into a pit. 

The Hero kept his stance, one hand wrapped around the helmet protectively. Vio smiled sadly. 

“Ready to die again, Hero?” He teased, “no way to vanish from this.”

He summoned Blue-like rage and Green-like strength and charged. The Hero did likewise, hefting his sword and came swinging. 

They were both at a disadvantage. Vio was refusing to use his weapon, he couldn’t risk killing the Hero and he needed him conscious for his plan to work. The Hero had to hold back as he was fighting with one hand tied behind his back holding the helmet. He couldn’t let the helmet be damaged. 

Vio dodged. The Hero pushed against him. The Yiga roared for blood. 

Slowly but surely, Vio was succeeding at his mission. After a while, the Hero was pushed against the pit, and one more-he slipped! He was hanging on by his right hand, dropping his sword to do so. He looked down at the darkness below, never even hearing the sword hit the bottom. 

Perfect, Vio was right where he needed to be. He stepped on the Hero’s hand, making sure he didn’t fall until it was just right. 

“KILL HIM!” The crowd roared. They were hushed when he put a finger to his lips, or where they would be under the mask. 

“After you fall,” he leaned near the Hero, watching his eyes scramble for an exit, “remember my name. You’ll need it in the afterlife. No Sheikah tech to save you again, not even that slate on your hip.”

Vio moved away and kicked his last fingers off. 

“Remember to ask for Vio in the Dark Realm.”

He walked away as the Hero fell down the pit and the Yiga erupted in cheers. They had avenged their master and prepared for the arrival of Lord Ganon all at once. Vio smiled.

Of course, he ignored the the blue strands of light that appeared at the bottom.

-

“We appeared in a desert?!” Blue complained, “a motherf*cking desert!?”

“Blue, language,” Green shot him a look as he helped Red up from being buried under some sand. 

“Who’s Hyrule is this?” Warriors asked, covering his eyes from the wind with his scarf. 

“Mine!” Wild raised his hands, “I’d recognize these harsh winds anywhere. We’re near Gerudo Highlands and we are far from the exit to the desert.”

“Lovely,” Legend sneered. 

“On the bright side,” Wild smiled, “as long as we watch out for the lizalfos and not disturb them, we won’t have to deal with any monsters. No one else can survive out here.”

“Including us, Cub?” Twilight asked him. 

“I’ve tested it, you can survive a day and a half in this desert and that’s only if you have no food.”

“How did you test it, Cub?”

“Uhhhhhh…”

“You said there’s nothing else out here?” Wind asked and then pointed to three Hylian travelers completely ignoring the dust clouds, “who are they?”

Wild immediately pulled out his sword, “those are different. Those are Yiga!”

“Yiga?” Green finally got Red out of the sand pile. 

“Oh, the traitors,” Warriors growled, “I am assuming we are fighting.”

“Most definitely,” Wild yelled at the hidden Yiga members, “you can stop it! You aren’t fooling anyone.”

“You could at least have fun with us killing you!” The three travelers jumped and suddenly they were dressed in red and rushing them. 

The Links all prepared for a fight where they were all hot and most of them couldn’t see because of the sand in their eyes. They were just Yiga, though, it should be a piece of cake for 11 Heroes to deal with. 

-

Green groaned as he felt his pounding head. The last thing he remembered was getting struck on the back of the head and then eating a mouthful of sand. 

He looked around. He was in a small cell with Red and Blue, who were passed out still, and Wild, who was awake and very annoyed. 

“Great, you’re awake!” Wild smiled. 

“What happened?”

“The Yiga knocked you and Red out, taking you as hostage,” Wild explained, “Blue got angry and tried to save you and then got taken hostage as well. Then I turned myself over so they didn’t kill you. Now we are in the Yiga hideout, which I thought was empty.”

“And you haven’t escaped yet?” Green squinted, “that isn’t like you.”

“They took my slate,” he shrugged, “that’s how I escaped last time. Also, I can’t carry three bodies, no matter how small you and your brothers are.”

“Fair.”

“THEY’RE WHAT?” A voice boomed throughout the hideout. A strikingly familiar voice, but it couldn’t be…

“We captured the Hero and his friends,” a meek voice echoed, “his friends look almost exactly-“

“I don’t care,” the angry voice interrupted, “take me to them and then leave. I want to be alone with these Heroes.”

“Of course, Master.”

Footsteps grew louder and louder as they approached the cell. Wild was the first to see who it was. 

“This guy again?” He sneered, “you want another death match?”

“You’re much more talkative than the last time we met, Hero,” there was no doubt about it, this was Vio. This was smart, idiotic, betrayal loving Vio, complete with a Yiga mask covering his face, but not he iconic clothes. “I recall saving your live with that little fall of yours.”

“You didn’t plan that!” Wild stood, ready to punch him through the bars, “cowards, the lot of you Yiga. Especially you, Master Shadow!”

“V-vio?” Green stood up slowly, coming into the light of the torches, “is that you?”

“Green?” He backed away, “what are you doing here? Blue, Red!?”

“What am I-what are you!?” Green laughed weakly, “Master Shadow? Shadow?! Are you in charge here?”

He looked down at his feet, refusing to let Green see the mask of a traitor. 

“Did you pull a Vio?” Green growled, “again?!”

“It works!” He protested, “I would have been dead day one when we split if not for-“

“Hold up!” Wild slammed his hands on the bars, “you two know each other?”

“Oh,” Vio removed his mask, “you have never seen what I look like.”

Wild gaped as an exact copy of Green, Red, and Blue looked at them with dead eyes. Vio looked like he hadn’t had a full rest in months, which was probably true. Despite that, he was smiling warmly at his brother. 

“There’s four of you?”

“We aren’t called the Hero of the Four Sword for nothing,” Vio laughed. 

“And you’re a Hero?” Wild’s brain was fried, “why are you the leader of the Yiga?”

“That’s pulling a Vio,” Green explained. 

“That explains nothing.”

Vio sighed, “pulling a Vio is what my brothers call when I ‘betray them.’ I’m not actually a part of the Yiga and I don’t follow Ganon, but I am pretending to be. I sabotage them from the inside, and it is working. You killed Kohga and escaped with the helmet, which you couldn’t have done without me.”

“Okay,” Wild was starting to understand, he just didn’t want to, “why’d you go by Shadow, then? That’s what all the Yiga have been calling you.”

“Yeah,” Green looked at him oddly, “you look nothing like him.”

“They don’t know that,” he hissed, “the only way I could explain away the triforce mark on my hand was that I was Shadow mimicking the Hero of the Four Swords. They don’t know our story, so they bought.”

“Great,” Wild smiled sarcastically, “now that we are all caught up, how about you let us out of this cell.”

“Of course,” Vio immediately opened it up, “but now that you guys are here, I can finally leave. I couldn’t before because they would hunt me down for going awol. It’s just a matter of us sneaking out now.”

“Wait,” Green grinned, “they think you are Shadow-“

“Yes, we’ve been over this.”

“-which would make me look like the Hero of the Four Sword to them-“

“You are? Green, pick up Red, we need to go.”

“-how about we show them the final battle of the Hero’s Shadow?” He finished, “then they would never track you down, if they thought you were dead.”

Vio gave it no thought, “no. Never.”

“C’mon! It’ll be fun, just like old times!”

“When I pretended you were dead on multiple occasions?”

“YES!”

-

“…why am I agreeing to this?” Vio shook his head. 

“Because karma,” Green chirped before raising his sword, “begone fowl demon of the Dark Realm!”

They were standing on the cliff face behind the pit, where a bunch of Yiga stood watching their Master. Wild snuck away with Red and Blue with the Sheikah Slate that Vio gave back while the two caused a distraction. Vio dragged Green all the way to where they were now and declared a duel. 

He sighed, “Hero of the Four Sword, my mortal enemy, and the only one who can kill me! You have finally come.”

“Yes,” Green tried to hide his laughter, “I will destroy you for murdering my precious brother Vio!”

“Wait,” a Yiga called from below, “I thought your name was Vio?”

Green faked a gasp, “you killed him and took his name? DEVIOUS!”

Vio rolled his eyes, “yes, I thought it suited me. He was always a nerd, so I thought he would see the irony.”

“Nerd,” Green snickered under his breathe before yelling one last time, “HAVE AT THEE, THOU VILLAIN!”

“With pleasure.”

The battle was a ridiculous one. Vio sliced just once and Green only used his hammer. It was all theatrical, Vaati would have approved with how dramatic he was. It wasn’t until Vio was hit with one final thwack that Green stole his sword for the killing blow. 

“This is for my brother,” he raising the sword high so that every Yiga could see. From their angle, they couldn’t see Vio’s rolled away from any danger. “Who I have missed every day since he’s been gone.”

Vio smiled, “as I am sure he has you. Kill me, so that I may tell him your message myself.”

Green struck nothing but stone, though his acting made it look like he was removing his blade from a corpse. The Yiga all shrieked and got into a frenzy, reading to kill Green for their second master in a year. 

“Run?” Green backed away from their sight. 

“What do you think, idiot?” Vio grabbed his brother’s hand and booked it. They needed to meet Wild at the shrine so they could hide until everything cooled down. “…did you really miss me?”

Green snorted, “of course. Red’s been worried sick and Blue…”

Vio laughed, “we’re going to have an actual corpse on our hands when he wakes up.”

“Glad to see you still have some intelligence.”

**Author's Note:**

> I do requests


End file.
